Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

Dual drug sneaks across the blood-brain barrier to fight HIV

In an advance toward eliminating pockets of infection in the brain that help make HIV disease incurable, scientists report the development of new substances that first plug the biological vacuum cleaner that prevents anti-HIV drugs from reaching the brain and then revert to an active drug to treat HIV.

14 Oct 2011

InnaVirVax announces Phase I/IIa clinical trial authorization for its VAC-3S HIV vaccine

InnaVirVax, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of therapeutic and diagnostic solutions in pathologies associated with immune dysregulation, declared today that it has obtained authorization from the French drug agency (AFSSAPS) to start a Phase I/IIa clinical study of its therapeutic vaccine VAC-3S for the treatment of HIV infections. This authorization intervenes only two years and half after the launching of InnaVirVax’s activities.

14 Oct 2011

New insights into how adenovirus triggers an immune response

A Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine study could lead to improved gene therapies for conditions such as heart disease and cancer as well as more effective vaccines for tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases.

13 Oct 2011

U of U researchers receive NIH grant to uncover viral cause of MS

A team of investigators from the University of Utah has received a two-year, $275,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund novel research that may help to uncover a viral cause for the most acute and severe form of multiple sclerosis.

13 Oct 2011

Roche launches LightCycler Nano real-time PCR system in the U.S.

Roche announced today the U.S. launch of the latest addition to the company's real-time PCR portfolio of LightCycler instruments for use in research, the LightCycler Nano real-time PCR system.

From Roche Sequencing and Life Science 13 Oct 2011

Breakthrough in the study of chlamydia genetics

A breakthrough in the study of chlamydia genetics could open the way to new treatments and the development of a vaccine for this sexually transmitted disease.

13 Oct 2011

New robust technique holds promise for identifying trace mutant DNA sequences

Molecular DNA testing methods offer clinicians powerful tools that serve to confirm or identify disease diagnoses. High sensitivity and high specificity, however, are frequently a challenge to achieve with these methods. In a study scheduled for publication in the November issue of The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, researchers describe a new, robust technique that holds promise for identifying trace mutant DNA sequences in an overwhelming population of unmutated DNA.

12 Oct 2011

PROLOR receives U.S. patent allowance for CTP-modified interferons

PROLOR Biotech, Inc. today announced that it received a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) for a patent application covering PROLOR's CTP-modified interferons.

12 Oct 2011

AzTE, Roche sign license agreement to develop revolutionary DNA sequencing system

Roche and Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE) announced today an agreement to license several technologies developed by Dr. Stuart Lindsay at the Biodesign Institute- at Arizona State University and Dr. Colin Nuckolls of the Columbia University Nanoscience Center for the development of a revolutionary DNA sequencing system.

12 Oct 2011

Vertex announces availability of INCIVEK to treat hepatitis C in Canada

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated announced today that INCIVEK (telaprevir) tablets are now available in Canada for people with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C with compensated liver disease, including cirrhosis.

11 Oct 2011

Roche NimbleGen launches pre-capture multiplex target enrichment protocol

With the decreasing cost and increasing throughput of sequencing, researchers require a high-performance, cost-effective sample preparation pipeline for targeted sequencing. To enable researchers to more readily match targeted sequencing sample preparation throughput to the ever increasing throughput of next-generation sequencing, Roche NimbleGen announces the imminent launch of a pre-capture multiplex target enrichment protocol.

11 Oct 2011

Scripps Research receives NIH grant to determine how HCV induces liver cancer

The Scripps Research Institute has been awarded a $2.2 million grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to determine how the hepatitis C virus (HCV) induces liver cancer.

11 Oct 2011

Roche's gantenerumab removes amyloid plaques from the brain of patients with AD

Roche today announced the publication of a study demonstrating that its monoclonal antibody gantenerumab removes amyloid plaques from the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease. The study "Mechanism of amyloid removal in patients with Alzheimer disease treated with gantenerumab" is published today in the October issue of Archives in Neurology.

11 Oct 2011

Positive results from Biotron's BIT225 Phase 2a trial on HCV

Australian drug development company Biotron Limited has released headline results from its landmark Phase 2a trial of its lead drug candidate, BIT225 in Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients.

11 Oct 2011

Coridon demonstrates 100% protection using DNA HSV-2 vaccine

DNA vaccine development company Coridon Pty Ltd. today announced that it had successfully completed pre-clinical efficacy testing of its prototype Herpes Simplex Virus 2 (HSV-2) vaccine, with outstanding results. The company will now look to progress the program into clinical studies.

10 Oct 2011

Unither Virology receives NIAID contract for glycobiology antiviral platform

United Therapeutics Corporation announced that its subsidiary, Unither Virology, LLC, has been awarded a contract for up to approximately $45 million under a Broad Agency Announcement from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for studies directed at the development of a broad-spectrum antiviral drug based on its glycobiology antiviral platform.

10 Oct 2011

VGX International, Inovio partner to co-develop SynCon vaccines for hepatitis B and C infections

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of synthetic vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today that it has entered into a product development collaboration agreement with its affiliate, VGX International Inc., to co-develop Inovio's SynCon therapeutic vaccines for hepatitis B and C infections.

10 Oct 2011

Experts take study on contraceptive use, HIV risk seriously but warn about drawing conclusions prematurely because of study's 'methodological weaknesses'

In this post in RH Reality Check, Jodi Jacobson, editor-in-chief of the blog, responds to an article published in the New York Times on Tuesday regarding a study suggesting that "HIV-negative women using injectable contraception might face a two-fold risk of acquiring HIV from their infected partners, and that HIV-positive women using injectable contraceptives may be twice as likely to pass the virus on to their uninfected partners."

10 Oct 2011

NIH awards LSUHSC $9 million grant to develop pneumonia vaccine

Dr. Judd Shellito, Chief of the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has been awarded approximately $9 million in grant funding to develop a vaccine against Pneumocystis, an important cause of pneumonia in people with HIV infection. This potentially fatal illness is the most common serious opportunistic infection in people with HIV.

7 Oct 2011

Scientists discover two HIV variants in cerebrospinal fluid of HAD patients

When the virus that causes AIDS infects the central nervous system, it can lead to the development of a severe neurological disease called HIV- associated dementia.

7 Oct 2011