Alternative Smallpox Vaccine Identified

University of California, Irvine infectious disease researchers have shown the effectiveness of a potential alternative to the existing smallpox vaccine that can replace the current biodefense stockpile for this lethal virus.
Philip Felgner and Huw Davies with the Department of Medicine found that the modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) produced the same antiviral response in human [...]

Two Genes Are Important Key To Regulating Immune Response - Findings Have Implications For Research Into Lupus, Cancer And HIV/AIDS

A research team at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City has identified two genes that may be crucial to the production of an immune system cytokine called interleukin-10 (IL-10).
The discovery fills in an important “missing link” in a biochemical pathway that’s long been tied to disorders ranging from lupus and Type 1 diabetes, [...]

VGX Pharmaceuticals Announces Successful Completion Of The First Human Study To Assess The Tolerability Of CELLECTRA™ Electroporator

VGX Pharmaceuticals announced today the successful completion of its first study to assess the tolerability of VGX’s patented CELLECTRA™ electroporation device in humans. Ten healthy adult volunteers were treated with CELLECTRA™ device and were asked to report the level of discomfort they experienced immediately after electroporation and at various times thereafter. The procedure was generally [...]

Cornell Researcher Seeks Clues To How Tuberculosis Infects Cells

Cornell researchers are using advanced genetic techniques to better understand the relationship between the bacteria that cause tuberculosis and the human immune system defense cells that engulf them.
The researchers have discovered that unlike many bacterial pathogens, Mycobacterium tuberculosis does not react when immune system cells called macrophages initially make contact; but the bacterium’s genes become [...]

UNICEF Immunises 100,000 Children And Women In Camps In Southern Somalia

Approximately 47,600 children under five and 56,000 women who live in camps along the Mogadishu-Afgoye corridor will receive a package of critical life saving interventions to ensure their health and well-being, this week.
“95 per cent of Somali children under the age of five have not received the full recommended course of vaccinations,” said UNICEF’s Representative [...]

Bioject At The Forefront Of Product Development With Use Of Biojector(R) 2000 In Vical’s Expanded DNA Vaccine Clinical Trial

Bioject Medical Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:BJCT), a leading developer of needle-free injection therapy (NFIT) systems, announced the utilization of the Biojector(R) 2000 in Vical Inc.’s Phase 1 testing of its Vaxfectin™ formulated plasmid DNA (pDNA) pandemic influenza vaccine, placing Bioject at the forefront of ongoing influenza vaccine research.
Vical is conducting a clinical trial comparing vaccination by [...]

YouTube Full Of One-Sided Anti-Vaccination Videos

If you are seeking information about vaccines YouTube may provide you with some, but much of it will be one-sided, anti-vaccination footage containing provocative and powerful messages.
Researchers from the University of Toronto and York University, both in Canada, looked at 153 YouTube videos about vaccination and immunization. They used the keywords vaccination and immunization. According [...]

Bavarian Nordic Reports Positive Data From First EUA Enabling Study With IMVAMUNE(R) Smallpox Vaccine Candidate

Bavarian Nordic reports the successful completion of a large, placebo-controlled Phase II trial in 745 healthy subjects who received either one or two doses of IMVAMUNE(R) next-generation smallpox vaccine candidate. The results of this study are seen as the pivotal step on the path to moving IMVAMUNE(R) into Phase III registration trials in order to [...]

Akorn, Inc. Announces FDA Approval For Unit Dose Preservative Free Tetanus Diphtheria Vaccine

Akorn, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRX) announced FDA approval of a supplemental Biologics License Application (BLA) for a unit dose preservative free Tetanus Diphtheria vaccine. Akorn expects to launch this new vaccine in the first quarter of 2008.
In March 2007, Akorn announced that it had entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories for Tetanus Diphtheria [...]

InViragen Receives Funding From The Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative

InViragen announced that the company will receive financial support from the Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative (PDVI). The PDVI grant will provide funds for manufacture of Inviragen’s dengue vaccine in preparation for testing in human clinical trials.
Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne illness, prevalent in tropical and subtropical countries throughout the world. Approximately 3.5 billion people live [...]