Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

CVS calls on FDA to suspend use of contaminated rotavirus vaccines

On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) convened a panel of experts to review recent findings that rotavirus vaccines given to infants in the U.S., Rotateq, produced by Merck Pharmaceuticals and Rotarix produced by GlaxoSmithKline, are contaminated with DNA from pig viruses PCV1 and PCV2. On March 22nd the FDA Commissioner asked doctors to suspend use of the Rotarix vaccine due to the contamination. Upon additional testing, Rotateq was also found to be contaminated.

10 May 2010

Asthmatx announces first U.S. patient treated with BT delivered by Alair System

Asthmatx, Inc. reported today that doctors at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., recently treated the first U.S. patient with bronchial thermoplasty (BT) delivered by the Alair® System, the first device-based asthma treatment approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

10 May 2010

Ferring to acquire global rights to Xanodyne Pharmaceutical's LYSTEDA

Ferring Pharmaceuticals today announced an agreement that will expand its Women's Health product portfolio with the acquisition of the global rights to Xanodyne Pharmaceutical's LYSTEDA™ (tranexamic acid), a first-in-class, non-hormonal therapy indicated specifically for treatment of women with cyclic heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB).

10 May 2010

European patent strengthens Soligenix' topically active steroid intellectual property portfolio

Soligenix, Inc., a late-stage biotechnology company, announced today that the European Patent Office granted patent EP 1392321 "Method of Treating Inflammatory Disorders of the Gastrointestinal Tract using Topically Active Corticosteroids." The new patent's main claims cover the use of topically active corticosteroids in orally administered dosage forms that act concurrently in the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract.

10 May 2010

GSK participates in FDA advisory committee's rotavirus vaccine meeting

GlaxoSmithKline today participated in a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee meeting convened to discuss recent findings of porcine circovirus (PCV) in rotavirus vaccines. Although the committee did not issue any formal recommendations, members widely acknowledged that the benefits of vaccinating infants worldwide against rotavirus disease clearly outweigh the theoretical risks associated with the presence of porcine circovirus type 1 (PCV-1) in the vaccines.

10 May 2010

Scientists develop dry, inhalable measles vaccine, will begin testing in India this summer

CBSNews.com reports on the development of a dry, inhalable measles vaccine by researchers at the University of Colorado-Boulder (CU-Boulder), who hope that their work will "help pave the way for the inexpensive treatment of a range of other illnesses" (Cooper, 5/5).

10 May 2010

GP practices to get funds to employ full time nurses

There are nearly 40 percent GP practices in Australia who do not employ the services of a trained nurse. Authorities believe that there are 441,000 unnecessary hospital admissions each year only because of inability of patients to manage their chronic diseases due to lack of knowledge, or their inability to get adequate follow up care.

9 May 2010

Encouraging B. anthracis to unwittingly unmask itself will help eradicate the pathogen

Anthrax-causing bacteria can be engineered to shed their invisibility cloaks, making it easier for the immune system to eradicate it, according to a new study published in Microbiology. The work could lead to new measures to treat anthrax infection in the event of a biological warfare attack.

7 May 2010

Aceto third-quarter net sales up 24.5% to $99.3 million

Aceto Corporation, a global leader in the sourcing, quality assurance, regulatory support, marketing and distribution of pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, specialty chemicals and crop protection products, today announced results of operations for its fiscal 2010 third quarter and nine months ended March 31, 2010.

7 May 2010

Survey reveals low awareness of postherpetic neuralgia amongst Americans

The American Pain Foundation (APF) announced today at the American Pain Society (APS) Annual Meeting the results of a national survey that showed postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), also known as after-shingles pain, continues to be a condition with low awareness amongst Americans, demonstrating a need for health care provider (HCP) intervention.

7 May 2010

Challenges and limitations faced in avian influenza

Over the past decade, substantial resources have been spent on tackling avian influenza and building a global capacity for a pandemic response. The catastrophic costs of the 1918 influenza pandemic are well documented, and the swine flu pandemic of 2009-10 has raised the alarm yet again.

7 May 2010

New CD4 test kit can improve quality of life for HIV and AIDS patients

The use of rapid point-of-care diagnostic tests for the measurement of CD4 T-cells, a marker of the immune system will be an important factor in improving the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS especially in developing and resource-poor countries.

7 May 2010

New study may help design better vaccines for dengue fever

Some of the human immune system's defences against the virus that causes dengue fever actually help the virus to infect more cells, according to new research published today in the journal Science.

7 May 2010

A checklist to stay healthy at every age

Shantanu Nundy, MD, a second-year resident in internal medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center may soon find out. Driven by his mother's health questions and the difficulty of providing simple, reliable answers, Nundy collected all of the "generally accepted truths" about preventing disease, organized them into checklists based on age, and persuaded the Johns Hopkins University Press to publish them as Stay Healthy at Every Age: What Your Doctor Wants you to Know.

7 May 2010

Pfizer presents data on in vivo activity of PF-04523655 siRNA drug candidate at ARVO annual meeting

Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the world leader in clinical development of RNAi-based therapeutics, announced today that researchers from Pfizer, Inc. presented data on in vivo activity of PF-04523655 at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) annual meeting, being held May 2-6, 2010 in Fort Lauderdale.

7 May 2010

Swedish researchers present a new principle for inhibiting atherosclerosis

A new study by researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet shows that the immune defence's T cells can attack the "bad" LDL cholesterol and thereby cause an inflammation that leads to atherosclerosis.

7 May 2010

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals reports first-quarter net income of $5.5 million from continuing operations

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals today announced its first quarter financial results for the three month period ended March 27, 2010. The Company reported net income from continuing operations of $5.5 million, or $0.11 per share, compared to a net loss of $7.0 million, or $0.14 per share, for the period ended March 28, 2009.

7 May 2010

WHO publishes comprehensive report on H1N1

"A year after the H1N1 [swine] flu first appeared, the World Health Organization has issued perhaps the most comprehensive report on the pandemic's activity to date," HealthDay News/Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports (Gardner, 5/5).

7 May 2010

Intellect Neurosciences signs debt settlement agreement with CARBOGEN AMCIS AG

Intellect Neurosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on development of disease-modifying therapeutic agents for Alzheimer's disease, announced today that it has reached a debt settlement agreement with CARBOGEN AMCIS AG, one of Intellect's largest trade creditors, in connection with prior services rendered.

6 May 2010

Researchers demonstrate how Plasmodium falciparum can able to circumvent action of artemisinin

Researchers from CNRS, INSERM and Toulouse University Hospital have demonstrated how the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which causes severe forms of malaria, is able to circumvent the action of artemisinin and its derivatives, which are today the first-line drugs used to treat this disease. This study supplies some important findings that will enable a clearer understanding of the mechanisms of resistance to antimalarial drugs and the testing of novel therapeutic strategies in a context where the drug resistance of parasites is of increasing concern.

6 May 2010