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Nature News examines meningitis vaccine program to roll out in Africa

Nature News reports on an immunization campaign kicking off in Africa in December that will offer protection to some areas of Africa's meningitis belt. Millions will receive a new vaccine, MenAfriVac, that promises protection against the meningococcal bacterium Neisseria meningitides, the news service writes, noting the effort is the culmination of ten years' work by an international consortium to develop a vaccine at a price low enough for massive use in Africa: just US$0.40 a dose.

12 Nov 2010

NexBio presents Fludase data for Influenza-Like Illness at ACAAI 2010

NexBio, Inc. announced the presentation of new data at the 2010 annual American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology in Phoenix, Arizona. The presentation was entitled DAS181 (Fludase), a Sialidase, Decreases Airway Resistance by Modulating Muscarinic Receptor Signaling.

12 Nov 2010

Kaiser Permanente announces 2011 plans for Medicare-eligible beneficiaries

Kaiser Permanente has announced its 2011 plans for individual Medicare-eligible beneficiaries, reflecting its commitment to continuing participation in Medicare in all its existing service areas in nine states and the District of Columbia.

12 Nov 2010

SCYNEXIS receives four grants under QTDP program to develop cyclophilin inhibitors

Drug discovery and development company SCYNEXIS, Inc. today announced that the Company has been awarded four grants totaling $977,917 under the U.S. Federal Government's Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP). SCYNEXIS is developing a proprietary internal pipeline of cyclophilin inhibitors, a class of drugs that hold significant potential for the treatment of a broad range of diseases.

11 Nov 2010

Mobile health summit ends

The three-day mHealth Alliance summit wrapped up on Wednesday after discussions and seminars that aimed to advance the discussion around ways mobile technology can increase the access, efficiency and effectiveness of health systems, allAfrica.com reports.

11 Nov 2010

FDA grants SEDASYS System appeal

Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. (EES) today announced that the Commissioner's Office of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the appeal of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health's (CDRH) denial of the SEDASYS System Premarket Approval Application (PMA). As a result, a new Independent Advisory Panel will be appointed to reconsider the SEDASYS System clinical trial data and application.

11 Nov 2010

Roche, CapitalBio to initiate strategic partnership for molecular diagnostic applications

Roche Diagnostics and CapitalBio have announced their intention to initiate a strategic partnership targeting molecular diagnostic applications and the development of technologies to fill the unmet needs of researchers worldwide. This new development builds on the genomics and diagnostics expertise of the two companies and will focus on furthering microarray technologies and complementary products for molecular diagnostic applications.

From Roche Sequencing and Life Science 11 Nov 2010

U.N. member states elect countries to serve on U.N. women board

U.N. Member States on Wednesday voted on the countries that would have a seat on the board of U.N. Women, the new agency tasked with promoting equality and women's rights, Public Radio International's The World reports.

11 Nov 2010

StemCyte receives two cash grants under QTDP program for biomedical research

StemCyte, Inc., one of the world's preeminent umbilical cord blood (UCB) banks and biotherapy companies, is proud to announce that the Company has been awarded two cash grants totaling $488,950 under the U.S. Internal Revenue Service's Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) program designed to support biomedical research by firms with fewer than 250 employees.

11 Nov 2010

NCI awards $11.5 million to Fred Hutchinson Center for breast cancer research

The National Cancer Institute has awarded $11.5 million to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to lead a five-year, Seattle-based breast cancer research consortium. The goal of the endeavor is to positively impact breast cancer prevention, detection, treatment and care of women who have or are at risk for the disease.

11 Nov 2010

PharmAthene third quarter revenue decreases from $6.8 million to $6.2 million

PharmAthene, Inc. a biodefense company developing medical countermeasures against biological and chemical threats, today reported financial and operational results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2010.

11 Nov 2010

Bay Area health care start-up investments down 35% in third quarter

In California's Bay Area, third-quarter venture capital investment in health care-related companies totaled $421.5 million, down 35 percent from $650.6 million in the same period a year earlier, according to research firm VentureSource.

11 Nov 2010

NephRx initiates NX001 Phase I clinical trial to prevent DGF in kidney transplant patients

NephRx Corporation today announced that it has initiated a Phase I clinical trial of its lead compound NX001 and has successfully dosed the first subject in the study. NX001, a kidney growth factor peptide that has demonstrated good safety and promising efficacy in two animal models of acute renal failure, is in development for the prevention of delayed graft function (DGF) in kidney transplantation patients.

11 Nov 2010

Meridian fourth quarter net sales decrease 16% to $35.5 million

Meridian Bioscience, Inc., reported fourth quarter and full-year fiscal 2010 net sales of $35.5 million and $143.0 million, respectively, decreases of 16% and 4%, respectively, from the same periods of the prior fiscal year.

11 Nov 2010

G20 summit opens in Seoul; development plan announcement expected

The world's biggest rich and emerging powers escalated a war of words over trade and currencies Thursday, as leaders opened a G20 summit [in Seoul, South Korea] struggling to iron out distortions that threaten global growth, Agence France-Presse reports in an article examining some of the major disputes.

11 Nov 2010

Australian Defence Force suffers from shortage of medical officers

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is battling with a shortage of medical officers, and is looking to recruit at least 200 health and medical personnel to fill the gap for current and future needs. According to Captain Julian Fidge, “I am certain the ADF have an enormous shortage of their specialist service officers despite recruiting many valuable, gifted applicants. These people are basically run out of the Army or the Navy through poor treatment…I worked alongside one of the civilian contractors and I had significant difficulties accepting their level of health care, their provision of health care, and so did my medics.”

11 Nov 2010

Women and cancer today

Experts have warned that women who have their breasts removed out of fear of a high hereditary risk of breast cancer may be doing so needlessly. Genetic tests like for the BRCA mutations have predicted a high risk of getting breast cancer in women with many breast cancer sufferers among their first degree relatives. Earlier studies suggest the risk of the mutation to predict the cancer 87% of the time. Now experts want that this is an overestimate.

11 Nov 2010

Dead litigant’s family bullied by tobacco company

In 2002 Jamie McCabe’s mother Rolah won a landmark legal battle against British American Tobacco and alleges that the family is still being harassed by the tobacco giant. Ms McCabe became the first Australian to successfully sue a tobacco company. She won $700,000 in compensation after Justice Geoffrey Eames, in the Victorian Supreme Court, found the tobacco company had destroyed potentially relevant documents about the damaging effects of smoking.

11 Nov 2010

Women abused as kids at increased risk of developing diabetes: Study

The latest research shows that women who were victims of childhood abuse may be at increased risk of developing diabetes in adulthood. For the study the scientist team looked at 67,853 U.S. nurses in the Nurses Health Study II and found that 54 percent reported physical abuse and 34 percent reported sexual abuse before age 18. Moderate and severe physical and sexual abuse was associated with a 26 percent to 69 percent increased risk of type 2 diabetes in adulthood.

11 Nov 2010

Elderly often have poor outcomes from surgery: Study

A new study has shown the ill effects of surgery in the elderly. Results of the Australian study shows that one in five older patients will suffer complications from surgery and one in 20 will die within 30 days. Lead author and Associate Professor David Story from the University of Sydney and his team looked at more than 4,100 patients aged over 70 for the study.

11 Nov 2010