Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

90% of HCV patients to be treated with triple therapy regimens, finds Decision Resources

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, based on clinical profiles provided to them, surveyed clinicians estimate that one year after the launch of Vertex Pharmaceuticals/Johnson & Johnson/Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma's telaprevir and Merck's boceprevir, at least 90 percent of hepatitis C virus patients will be treated with triple therapy regimens.

18 Jun 2010

USPTO awards Alnylam Notice of Allowance for patent covering methods of inhibiting expression of mutant genes

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has awarded a Notice of Allowance for the "John et al." patent (Application No. 10/384,463), which covers methods of inhibiting mutant genes with double-stranded RNAs from 19 to 30 nucleotides in length.

18 Jun 2010

Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Alnylam collaborate to develop microRNA-based attenuated influenza viruses

Mount Sinai School of Medicine has completed an exclusive option agreement with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. a leading RNAi therapeutics company, for intellectual property related to RNAi applications in vaccine development. These new applications of RNAi technology define opportunities for the advancement of novel vaccines in infectious disease.

18 Jun 2010

Maternal, infant ART drives down mother-to-child HIV transmission through breast-feeding, studies show

According to two new studies, "giving pregnant and nursing women triple antiretroviral drug therapy, or treating breast-fed infants with an antiretroviral medication, can dramatically cut transmission rates, enabling moms to both breast-feed and to protect nearly all children from infection," HealthDay News/Bloomberg Businessweek reports (Goodwin, 6/16).

18 Jun 2010

2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza vaccine protects against 1918 influenza virus: Report

Mice injected with a 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza vaccine and then exposed to high levels of the virus responsible for the 1918 influenza pandemic do not get sick or die, report scientists funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

17 Jun 2010

Kun Run Biotechnology obtains China SFDA manufacturing approval for Entecavir

Kun Run Biotechnology, Inc., a leading bio-pharmaceutical company in China focusing on manufacturing and sales of peptide-based and small molecule drugs, today announced that they have obtained the manufacturing approval for Entecavir from the China State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).

17 Jun 2010

CINJ researchers combine series of vaccination injections to treat prostate cancer

Looking to harness the body's own immune system to target prostate cancer that has spread to the bones (metastatic) and is unresponsive to standard treatment, investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey have just launched a clinical trial focusing on a combination of vaccine and radiation drug therapy.

17 Jun 2010

Experimental vaccine for Marburg hemorrhagic fever prevention shows promise for accidental exposures

An experimental vaccine developed to prevent outbreaks of Marburg hemorrhagic fever continues to show promise in monkeys as an emergency treatment for accidental exposures to the virus that causes the disease. There is no licensed treatment for Marburg infection, which has a high fatality rate.

17 Jun 2010

Stony Brook team creates live attenuated influenza virus vaccine by computer-aided rational design

A team of molecular biologists and computer scientists at Stony Brook University have used a novel method to weaken (attenuate) influenza virus by way of designing hundreds of mutations to its genetic code to create an effective vaccine. Reported online and in the July issue of Nature Biotechnology, the method may be a major step in developing more effective and safe vaccines against influenza, which claims 250,000 to 500,000 lives annually worldwide, partly because existing vaccines are not fully effective.

17 Jun 2010

UC researchers receive $2.3M grant to develop user-friendly diagnostics for influenza virus

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have received a five-year grant to develop rapid, robust, user-friendly diagnostics for influenza virus. An interdisciplinary team of scientists has received a $2.3 million dollar grant from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one of the National Institutes of Health. The name of the grant is "Glycan Receptor Mimics for Rapid Detection, Typing, and Susceptibility Testing of Influenza."

17 Jun 2010

BioNeutral announces distribution collaboration for sporicidal formulations with Steri-7

BioNeutral Group, Inc., a specialty chemical technology-based life science company, announced today that in collaboration with Steri-7™, a UK-based specialty chemical health care company, it will be expanding availability of its sporicidal formulations in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. Steri-7™ recently obtained approval from the UK's National Health Service (NHS) to market its formulations as a sporicidal cleaner/wipe.

17 Jun 2010

Meningococcal disease in infants: A potentially difficult and serious diagnosis

An article published in the May 2010 edition of Postgraduate Medicine documents a case study where a previously healthy, 15-week-old male infant was misdiagnosed and died of meningococcal disease. Initially the patient showed signs of the common cold and was treated as such, but symptoms worsened and he was admitted to the hospital emergency department.

16 Jun 2010

Microneedle skin patches as effective as hypodermic needles for flu vaccination

Flu vaccine delivered through skin patches containing microneedles has proven at least as effective at preventing influenza in mice as intramuscular, hypodermic flu immunization.

16 Jun 2010

Vaccination against 2009 H1N1 influenza virus may also protect against 1918 Spanish influenza virus

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have determined people who were vaccinated against the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus may also be protected against the lethal 1918 Spanish influenza virus, which killed more than 50 million people worldwide. The new findings are published in the current issue of Nature Communications.

16 Jun 2010

GenVec engages Wells Fargo Securities to conduct comprehensive review of strategic alternatives

GenVec, Inc. today announced that it has engaged Wells Fargo Securities, LLC to conduct a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives aimed at enhancing shareholder value.

16 Jun 2010

University of Montreal scientists discover free radical mechanism to viral invasion

Canadian researchers have discovered a new way the body combats respiratory viral infections. In the prestigious journal PLoS Pathogens, scientists from the University of Montreal and the University of Montreal Hospital Research Center explain how the NOX2 molecule, an enzyme that generates a burst of highly reactive oxygen derivatives (or free radicals), activates defense genes and molecules when viruses invade lung cells.

16 Jun 2010

Acclaimed virologist delivers the 2010 Leeuwenhoek prize lecture

Acclaimed virologist Robert Webster, Ph.D., of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, presented the 2010 Leeuwenhoek prize lecture today, a prestigious recognition awarded by the Royal Society in London.

16 Jun 2010

UT Southwestern head and neck cancer surgeons perform area's first transoral robotic surgery

Head and neck cancer surgeons at UT Southwestern Medical Center performed the area's first transoral robotic surgery (TORS), a recently approved minimally invasive no-scar procedure to remove tumors in the throat.

16 Jun 2010

Vitamin D may help reduce incidence, severity of viral respiratory tract infections: Study

Vitamin D may help reduce the incidence and severity of viral respiratory tract infections including influenza, according to a new study conducted by investigators at Greenwich Hospital and Yale University School of Medicine.

16 Jun 2010

Washington Post examines trial in Africa of long-acting vaginal ring for HIV prevention

"The first test of a long-acting vaginal ring loaded with an HIV-preventing drug has begun enrolling women in southern Africa," the Washington Post reports. The study, according to the newspaper, marks the 15th trial led by the nonprofit group, International Partnership for Microbicides, which "has helped lead the search for a discreet, woman-controlled means of protection" against the virus.

16 Jun 2010

Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

90% of HCV patients to be treated with triple therapy regimens, finds Decision Resources

USPTO awards Alnylam Notice of Allowance for patent covering methods of inhibiting expression of mutant genes

Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Alnylam collaborate to develop microRNA-based attenuated influenza viruses

Maternal, infant ART drives down mother-to-child HIV transmission through breast-feeding, studies show

2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza vaccine protects against 1918 influenza virus: Report

Kun Run Biotechnology obtains China SFDA manufacturing approval for Entecavir

CINJ researchers combine series of vaccination injections to treat prostate cancer

Experimental vaccine for Marburg hemorrhagic fever prevention shows promise for accidental exposures

Stony Brook team creates live attenuated influenza virus vaccine by computer-aided rational design

UC researchers receive $2.3M grant to develop user-friendly diagnostics for influenza virus

BioNeutral announces distribution collaboration for sporicidal formulations with Steri-7

Meningococcal disease in infants: A potentially difficult and serious diagnosis

Microneedle skin patches as effective as hypodermic needles for flu vaccination

Vaccination against 2009 H1N1 influenza virus may also protect against 1918 Spanish influenza virus

GenVec engages Wells Fargo Securities to conduct comprehensive review of strategic alternatives

University of Montreal scientists discover free radical mechanism to viral invasion

Acclaimed virologist delivers the 2010 Leeuwenhoek prize lecture

UT Southwestern head and neck cancer surgeons perform area's first transoral robotic surgery

Vitamin D may help reduce incidence, severity of viral respiratory tract infections: Study

Washington Post examines trial in Africa of long-acting vaginal ring for HIV prevention

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Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

A new way of characterising biomolecules eBook

How microRNA is transforming science: From discovery to diagnostics

Advancing benzodiazepine detection

The Surgeon-Scientist Pioneering Regenerative Engineering

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