Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

TLV, Emergent BioSolutions form joint venture to develop broad spectrum pandemic flu vaccine

Temasek Life Science Ventures Pte Ltd and Emergent BioSolutions Inc. today announced their agreement to form EPIC BIO Pte Ltd, a joint venture to develop, manufacture, and commercialize a multivalent, cross-protective human vaccine to protect against influenza caused by a broad range of circulating H5 influenza strains.

12 Aug 2010

AHF led sustained advocacy campaign leads to BMS's offer of discounts in AIDS drug pricing

Following ongoing advocacy campaigns spearheaded by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) that targeted several of the largest AIDS drug companies over their pricing and rebate policies for the nation's AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), the federally funded, state run programs that supply lifesaving AIDS drugs to low-income Americans in need, that the last remaining major AIDS drug company, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) today announced an agreement that will provide additional cost savings to cash-strapped ADAPs nationwide.

12 Aug 2010

Chimpanzee adenoviruses can be used as vaccine vectors: Research

In recent years, scientists have studied the possibility of using engineered human adenoviruses as vaccines against diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. In this approach, adenoviruses, which commonly cause respiratory-tract infections, are rendered relatively harmless before they are used as vectors to deliver genes from pathogens, which in turn stimulate the body to generate a protective immune response.

12 Aug 2010

HemaQuest commences HQK-1004 global Phase 2 clinical trial in EBV-related malignancies

HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals announced today that it has initiated the Company's Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating its proprietary HQK-1004 therapy for the treatment of lymphomas and related cancers associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. These EBV-related cancers have poor prognoses and short patient survival. Currently available cancer therapies are typically much less effective in patients with EBV-related lymphoid malignancies than in patients who have similar cancers not infected with the virus.

11 Aug 2010

Medicago USA awarded $21M to develop vaccine facility in Research Triangle Park

Medicago USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Medicago Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing highly effective and affordable vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles, today announced that it has been awarded a $21 Million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Broad Agency Announcement, Defense Sciences Research & Technology to demonstrate the scalable manufacturing of its plant-expressed VLP vaccines in the U.S.A. under a Technology Investment Agreement.

11 Aug 2010

Tamir Biotechnology's three compounds effective show potential for yellow fever

Tamir Biotechnology, Inc.(formerly Alfacell Corporation) announced today that scientists supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) confirmed that testing of three of our company's compounds showed in vitro results rarely seen before by the U.S. government for yellow fever.

11 Aug 2010

WHO declares end of H1N1 pandemic

"World Health Organisation Director-General Margaret Chan announced Tuesday the end of the [H1N1] swine flu pandemic, more than a year after it was declared," Agence France-Presse reports. "The world is no longer in phase 6 of influenza pandemic alert. We are now moving into the post-pandemic period," Chan said during a virtual press conference from Hong Kong, according to a WHO press release (8/10).

11 Aug 2010

NIAID launches clinical trials of dengue vaccine

After more than a decade of development, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has started clinical trials to test a vaccine to protect against the dengue virus, a product researchers hope may one day "help prevent a disease to which 2.5 billion people are exposed," CIDRAP News reports (Roos, 8/9).

11 Aug 2010

FDA approves longer Valcyte therapy for CMV disease in adult kidney transplant patients

Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved increasing the length of therapy with Valcyte (valganciclovir hydrochloride) in adult kidney transplant patients at high risk for cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease.

11 Aug 2010

Vertex reports results from Phase 3 ILLUMINATE study of telaprevir-based therapy for hepatitis C

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced results from the Phase 3 ILLUMINATE study, which was designed to evaluate whether there was any benefit to extending therapy from 24 to 48 weeks in people whose hepatitis C virus (HCV) was undetectable at weeks 4 and 12 of treatment (extended rapid viral response or eRVR).

10 Aug 2010

Columbus hospital receives PPMD grant to conduct clinical testing for Duchenne

Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, the largest non-profit organization in the United States focused on finding a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Duchenne), will award a $600,000 grant to Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio to conduct clinical testing of a promising gene therapy technique for muscle disease.

10 Aug 2010

Array BioPharma fiscal 2010 revenue increases to $53.9 million

Array BioPharma Inc. today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal 2010.

10 Aug 2010

NIH begins human clinical testing for dengue virus vaccine

After more than a decade of development at the National Institutes of Health, a vaccine to prevent infection by the mosquito-borne dengue virus has begun human clinical testing. The vaccine was developed by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and is undergoing clinical study at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

10 Aug 2010

H1N1 pandemic could be declared over soon, WHO's Chan says

The WHO's decision to declare the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic officially over could come within weeks, according to WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, the Canadian Press reports.

10 Aug 2010

Anti-viral drug addition to standard treatment regimen increases cure rate for hepatitis C

Adding a direct acting anti-viral drug to the standard treatment regimen for hepatitis C significantly increases the cure rate in the most difficult to treat patients, according to a research report published Monday in the online edition of the journal The Lancet.The research team, led by Paul Kwo, M.D., of Indiana University School of Medicine, reported that adding the drug nearly doubled the treatment's effectiveness when given for 48 weeks in one treatment arm of the study.

9 Aug 2010

BMS to join ranks of AIDS drug companies to offer price concessions

Bristol-Myers Squibb will soon announce an agreement that will provide additional cost savings to cash-strapped ADAPs nationwide. The agreement, with the ADAP Crisis Task Force (ACTF) of the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors, is expected to be announced any day. BMS has been the target of a sustained advocacy campaign led by AHF over its pricing of its key AIDS drug Reyataz.

7 Aug 2010

Drugs that reduce activity of ABDH6 enzyme can prevent brain damage: Study

A newly discovered molecular mechanism helps control the amount and effectiveness of a substance that mimics an active ingredient in marijuana, but that is produced by the body's own nerve cells.

7 Aug 2010

ViroPharma announces data on safety, efficacy of Cinryze to treat acute angioedema attacks

ViroPharma Incorporated today announced that data from Phase 3 studies of Cinryze (C1 esterase inhibitor [human]) have been published in the August 5, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The paper entitled Nanofiltered C1 Inhibitor Concentrate for Treatment of Hereditary Angioedema by Dr. Bruce L. Zuraw et al. describes the safety and efficacy of Cinryze in treating and preventing attacks of hereditary angioedema. Cinryze is the first and only FDA-approved C1 esterase inhibitor therapy indicated for routine prophylaxis against angioedema attacks in adolescent and adult patients with hereditary angioedema (HAE), a rare, debilitating and potentially fatal disease; it is not approved by the FDA to treat acute angioedema attacks.

6 Aug 2010

Scientific findings reveal combination antibiotic therapy effective for ulcerative colitis

The link between Hormone Replacement Therapy and reduced risk of distal large bowel cancer in women; a promising combination antibiotic therapy for ulcerative colitis patients; and the high-rate of alcoholic liver disease mortality, are among the scientific findings featured in the August issue of The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

6 Aug 2010

Summer Academy Meeting highlights benefits of HPV, Herpes Zoster vaccines

Vaccines have a long history of successfully preventing disease and, in effect, improving the lives of countless Americans. Now, two serious diseases - human papillomavirus (HPV) and herpes zoster - could become a thing of the past as people better understand the safety and efficacy of vaccines to prevent these serious viral infections in specific populations.

6 Aug 2010

Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

TLV, Emergent BioSolutions form joint venture to develop broad spectrum pandemic flu vaccine

AHF led sustained advocacy campaign leads to BMS's offer of discounts in AIDS drug pricing

Chimpanzee adenoviruses can be used as vaccine vectors: Research

HemaQuest commences HQK-1004 global Phase 2 clinical trial in EBV-related malignancies

Medicago USA awarded $21M to develop vaccine facility in Research Triangle Park

Tamir Biotechnology's three compounds effective show potential for yellow fever

WHO declares end of H1N1 pandemic

NIAID launches clinical trials of dengue vaccine

FDA approves longer Valcyte therapy for CMV disease in adult kidney transplant patients

Vertex reports results from Phase 3 ILLUMINATE study of telaprevir-based therapy for hepatitis C

Columbus hospital receives PPMD grant to conduct clinical testing for Duchenne

Array BioPharma fiscal 2010 revenue increases to $53.9 million

NIH begins human clinical testing for dengue virus vaccine

H1N1 pandemic could be declared over soon, WHO's Chan says

Anti-viral drug addition to standard treatment regimen increases cure rate for hepatitis C

BMS to join ranks of AIDS drug companies to offer price concessions

Drugs that reduce activity of ABDH6 enzyme can prevent brain damage: Study

ViroPharma announces data on safety, efficacy of Cinryze to treat acute angioedema attacks

Scientific findings reveal combination antibiotic therapy effective for ulcerative colitis

Summer Academy Meeting highlights benefits of HPV, Herpes Zoster vaccines

Microplate-based assays in virology research eBook eBook

Redefining control and consistency in anaerobic microbiome workflows

AI in Healthcare: How generative tools are transforming clinical practice

The future of automation: Machine learning–driven hepatocyte and organoid counting