Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

Medicago completes first part of H5N1 vaccine Phase II trial

Medicago, a biotechnology company focused on developing highly effective and affordable vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles, today announced that the last dose of vaccine has been administered completing the first part of the Company's Phase II human clinical trial with its H5N1 Avian Influenza vaccine.

23 Dec 2010

Merck announces FDA approval for GARDASIL against HPV-related anal cancer

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved GARDASIL® [Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16, and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant] for the prevention of anal cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 and for the prevention of anal intraepithelial neoplasia (AIN) grades 1, 2 and 3 (anal dysplasias and precancerous lesions) caused by HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18, in males and females 9 through 26 years of age.

23 Dec 2010

Vote For Kids Health calls for voting support to help win December Pepsi Refresh Project

Critically ill and disadvantaged children are counting on the generosity of strangers Thursday, December 23, 2010, asking for 100,000 votes to help win their grant ideas in the December Pepsi Refresh Project. Securing the thousands of votes needed to finish in winning spots is an uphill challenge for many organizations, but eight enterprising charities have joined forces to help each other into the winners circle.

22 Dec 2010

Vertex announces modification of telaprevir and VX-222 combination Phase 2 trial for treatment of HCV

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced a modification of its Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating 12-week, response-guided regimens of its lead investigational hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease inhibitor, telaprevir, in combination with its lead investigational HCV polymerase inhibitor, VX-222.

22 Dec 2010

Biogen Idec, Elan propose updated product labeling for TYSABRI to FDA and EMA

Biogen Idec and Elan Corporation, plc announced that the companies have submitted a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a Type II Variation to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to request review and approval to update the respective TYSABRI Prescribing Information and Summary of Product Characteristics.

22 Dec 2010

Expansion of HIV screening worthwhile

According to researchers, screening for the AIDS virus to include every American at least once and the highest-risk people once a year could prevent more than 80,000 infections over the next 20 years. The team from Yale University in Connecticut and Stanford University in California reported that if treatment for infected people were integrated into such a program, it would prevent an estimated 212,000 new infections.

21 Dec 2010

Chronic fatigue syndrome not linked to virus

The latest research from the University College London, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and University of Oxford, England suggests that chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is not caused by the virus XMRV (xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus). The team says that earlier research that linked the virus to CFS was faulty because of contamination of mouse cell DNA samples in the laboratory.

21 Dec 2010

Researchers show how malaria parasites infect red blood cells, impede blood flow to organs

Although the incidence of malaria has declined in all but a few countries worldwide, according to a World Health Organization report earlier this month, malaria remains a global threat. Nearly 800,000 people succumbed to the mosquito-borne disease in 2009, nearly all of them in the developing world.

21 Dec 2010

Idera reports positive data from IMO-2125/ribavirin combination Phase 1 trial in null-responder HCV patients

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today preliminary data from a 4-week dose-ranging Phase 1 clinical trial of IMO-2125 in combination with ribavirin in 60 treatment-naïve patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. In the trial, treatment with IMO-2125 in combination with ribavirin was well tolerated and achieved substantial decline in virus levels at two days after the first dose of IMO-2125 and after four weeks of treatment.

20 Dec 2010

Exciting progress made in MS research during 2010

Exciting advances were made in 2010 in virtually every field of MS research. Progress toward finding new therapies for MS is illustrated by the availability of the first oral disease-modifying therapy for MS. Progress was also made toward finding ways to restore function and improving quality of life and specific MS symptoms through exercise, meditation, rehabilitation and medications, including the first therapy specifically approved to treat a symptom of MS (Ampyra).

20 Dec 2010

NIAID renews funding of PRIME to develop mathematical models to study influenza infection

Mount Sinai School of Medicine today announced that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has renewed funding of the Program for Research on Immune Modeling and Experimentation. This program seeks to develop easy-to-use, predictive mathematical models to better understand patterns of infection among individuals affected by the H1N1 and 1918 influenza viruses and other related viruses.

17 Dec 2010

Viron's Phase 2a trial for VT-111 meets primary, secondary endpoints in ACS patients

Viron Therapeutics Inc. today announced that the results of Viron's Phase 2a trial for VT-111 were published today in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions. In the study led by Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, Director of the Research Centre at the Montreal Heart Institute, VT-111, also known as Serp-1, met both its primary and secondary endpoints of safety and biological activity in Acute Coronary Syndrome patients receiving coronary stents.

17 Dec 2010

Prions responsible for BSE can survive in new host environment

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shown that prions, bits of infectious protein that can cause fatal neurodegenerative disease such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or "mad cow disease," have the ability to adapt to survive in a new host environment.

17 Dec 2010

Global Fund approves 79 grants with two-year commitment of $1.7B

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Board of Directors on Wednesday approved 79 grants with a two-year commitment of "$1.7 billion dollars for projects against the diseases, amid warnings that some hard-hit African countries were being left out," Agence France-Presse reports. The commitment, according to Ethiopian Health Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who chairs the Global Fund's board, "shows that even in hard economic times, we can continue to expand the fight against the three diseases" (12/15).

17 Dec 2010

U.S., South Africa sign PEPFAR partnership agreement

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane on Tuesday signed a "partnership agreement that will guide efforts on fighting HIV/AIDS in the African nation," Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports (Wessels, 12/15).

17 Dec 2010

FDA clears Novavax's Phase I clinical trial to evaluate new RSV vaccine candidate

Novavax, Inc. announced today that the company's Phase I clinical trial to evaluate a new vaccine candidate to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is no longer on clinical hold. In November, the company reported that it had received a question from the FDA regarding chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) that has now been resolved.

16 Dec 2010

HIV patient cured!

German researchers working with stem cell therapy have claimed they have cured an American patient with HIV and leukemia. Experts are wary of accepting the development at its face value and caution that there is a need for further research. Dr David Scadden, a co-director of the Harvard University Stem Cell Institute added, “Cured is a strong word. But this is very encouraging… from all indications, there was no residual virus… It’s as good an outcome as one could hope for.”

16 Dec 2010

New finding sheds light on how HIV eludes treatment by mutating

The virus that causes AIDS is chameleon-like in its replication. As HIV copies itself in humans, it constantly mutates into forms that can evade even the best cocktail of current therapies. Understanding exactly how HIV cells change as they reproduce is key to developing better tests and treatments for patients.

16 Dec 2010

Novel adenovirus-based gene therapy for renal cell carcinoma

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine (VIMM) have developed a novel virus-based gene therapy for renal cell carcinoma that has been shown to kill cancer cells not only at the primary tumor site but also in distant tumors not directly infected by the virus. Renal cell carcinoma is the most common form of kidney cancer in adults and currently there is no effective treatment for the disease once it has spread outside of the kidney.

16 Dec 2010

Study confirms Carrageenan as effective antiviral against H1N1 influenza strain

Carrageenan, is a polymer derived from red seaweed which helps to create a protective physical barrier in the nasal cavity and has proven to be an effective antiviral in the treatment of the common cold.

16 Dec 2010

Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

Medicago completes first part of H5N1 vaccine Phase II trial

Merck announces FDA approval for GARDASIL against HPV-related anal cancer

Vote For Kids Health calls for voting support to help win December Pepsi Refresh Project

Vertex announces modification of telaprevir and VX-222 combination Phase 2 trial for treatment of HCV

Biogen Idec, Elan propose updated product labeling for TYSABRI to FDA and EMA

Expansion of HIV screening worthwhile

Chronic fatigue syndrome not linked to virus

Researchers show how malaria parasites infect red blood cells, impede blood flow to organs

Idera reports positive data from IMO-2125/ribavirin combination Phase 1 trial in null-responder HCV patients

Exciting progress made in MS research during 2010

NIAID renews funding of PRIME to develop mathematical models to study influenza infection

Viron's Phase 2a trial for VT-111 meets primary, secondary endpoints in ACS patients

Prions responsible for BSE can survive in new host environment

Global Fund approves 79 grants with two-year commitment of $1.7B

U.S., South Africa sign PEPFAR partnership agreement

FDA clears Novavax's Phase I clinical trial to evaluate new RSV vaccine candidate

HIV patient cured!

New finding sheds light on how HIV eludes treatment by mutating

Novel adenovirus-based gene therapy for renal cell carcinoma

Study confirms Carrageenan as effective antiviral against H1N1 influenza strain

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