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Radiation scans cause increased scrutiny

The Associated Press: "Americans get the most medical radiation in the world, even more than folks in other rich countries. The U.S. accounts for half of the most advanced procedures that use radiation, and the average American's dose has grown sixfold over the last couple of decades. Too much radiation raises the risk of cancer.

15 Jun 2010

Monoclonal antibodies induce long-lasting, protective antiviral immune response

Monoclonal antibodies are the largest class of biotherapeutic drugs. When administered to infected organisms to blunt the propagation of pathogenic viruses, they may also induce a long-lasting and protective antiviral immune response similar to that achieved by vaccination. These results obtained in mice by the "Oncogenèse et Immunothérapie" group at the Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier (CNRS/Universités Montpellier 1 and 2), have been published on 10 June in PLoS Pathogens.

14 Jun 2010

ARCA receives approval to commence enrollment of first therapeutic trial using HIV vaccine candidate

News on the progress of a new trial may give new hope to patients with HIV who are dependent on anti-HIV drugs. The AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta has received approval to begin enrollment of the first therapeutic trial ever conducted using a promising HIV vaccine candidate from Atlanta-based, GeoVax Inc, a biotechnology company that creates, develops and tests innovative HIV/AIDS vaccines.

14 Jun 2010

Homeless Brisbane population at risk of dying early: survey

A recent survey has shown that more than 50 percent of Brisbane’s homeless community is at a higher risk of early deaths. The survey was conducted by interviewing at least 231 people who live on Brisbane's streets, using an index to determine their risk of dying or mortality risk.

14 Jun 2010

FRC praises decision of federal Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability

Family Research Council praised today's decision by the federal Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability to reject any change in current blood donation rules. Current policy provides that men who have had sex with men at any time since 1977 are permanently "deferred" from acting as blood donors, because of the high rates of HIV infection in that population. The panel, which offers non-binding advice to the federal Department of Health and Human Services, voted 9-6 on Friday afternoon against recommending any immediate change in the policy.

14 Jun 2010

State round-up: Tenn. lawmakers fail to pass bill to opt out of health care law; Mass. officials continue to study hospital sale

Tennessee lawmakers adjourned the 106th General Assembly early Thursday after failing to pass a bill to opt out of the new federal health care law. ... Both chambers passed the budget -- the only piece of legislation they are constitutionally required to adopt -- last week, but spent the last few days wrangling over issues like the federal health care overhaul.

14 Jun 2010

TIME series examines global health

As part of a special package about global health, TIME magazine visits what is known as "the most malarial town on earth" - Apac, Uganda - and examines global malaria control and efforts to eradicate the disease.

14 Jun 2010

Customs Organization to sign declaration against counterfeit drugs

The World Customs Organization will sign a declaration to fight the $200-billion-a-year counterfeit drug industry, Reuters reports.

14 Jun 2010

AIDS/LifeCycle event raises $10M to support HIV/AIDS services

More than 2,400 participants in AIDS/LifeCycle arrived at the Veterans Center in Los Angeles today after traveling 545 miles from San Francisco over the past seven days in the world's largest annual HIV/AIDS fundraising event. In its ninth year, the event raised $10 million to support the services of San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center that prevent new HIV infections and care for those living with HIV/AIDS.

14 Jun 2010

BIOTECanada congratulates CPHA on 100 years of leadership in public health

As a community partner of the Canadian Public Health Association, BIOTECanada, on behalf of Canada's biotechnology industry, congratulates the CPHA on 100 years of leadership in public health.

11 Jun 2010

Community-based model of DOT improves HIV patient survival: Researchers

When applied to HIV care, the community-based model of directly observed therapy has no effect on virologic outcomes, but significantly improves patient survival. This is according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in collaboration with colleagues at University of Cape Town, South Africa, who conducted the first randomized controlled trial of patient-nominated treatment-supporters providing partial DOT in resource-limited settings.

11 Jun 2010

FRC supports new blood donation policy

Tomorrow (Friday, June 11), Family Research Council Senior Fellow Peter Sprigg will testify before the Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability (ACBSA) of the Department of Health and Human Services.

11 Jun 2010

UNITAID approves plan: Solidarity levy to provide funding for health Millennium Development Goals

At a meeting which ended last night, the Executive Board of UNITAID approved a plan to step up efforts to enlist more countries to apply a solidarity levy on air tickets to provide additional funding for the health Millennium Development Goals. The Board approved a number of resolutions, among them the final phase of the establishment of a medicines patent pool, but a situation of depleting funds raises concerns for the many patients currently being treated by UNITAID.

11 Jun 2010

ViroStatics, Vichem Chemie partner to discover new AV-HALT drugs

ViroStatics, srl, an Italian-US biopharmaceutical company today announced the formation of a strategic partnership with Vichem Chemie of Budapest, Hungary to identify, synthesize, screen, and develop the next generation of AntiViral-HyperActivation Limiting Therapeutics (AV-HALTs) for the treatment of HIV/AIDS and other chronic diseases.

11 Jun 2010

NuGEN launches Encore NGS Library/Multiplex Systems and Ovation 3'-DGE System

NuGEN®, the provider of innovative RNA and DNA amplification and sample preparation technologies for breakthrough genomic analysis, today announced the introduction of its Encore NGS Library/Multiplex Systems and the Ovation 3'-DGE System. Together with the Ovation RNA-Seq System, launched in 2009, NuGEN is continuing to provide life sciences researchers with innovative and versatile sample preparation reagents that enable a broad range of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) applications through fast, simple and scalable workflows.

11 Jun 2010

New methodology may help control influenza

Scientists have uncovered the flu's secret formula for effectively evolving within and between host species: balance. The key lies with the flu's unique replication process, which has evolved to produce enough mutations for the virus to spread and adapt to its host environment, but not so many that unwanted genomic mutations lead to the flu's demise (catastrophic mutagenesis).

11 Jun 2010

Innovaro facilitates protein transduction technology licensing between Trojan Technologies, Trojantec

Innovaro, a comprehensive innovation solutions company, is pleased to announce that it has facilitated the completion of a licensing transaction between Trojan Technologies USA, a company recently formed by Verdant Ventures Advisors II, LLC, and Trojantec Ltd, a London and Cyprus based biopharmaceutical company.

11 Jun 2010

Report urges Canada to increase foreign aid spending for G8 maternal, child health initiative

The coalition Make Poverty History released a report on Wednesday, which praises Canada's spending on food aid and programs aimed at fighting diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, but it also says Canada should spend more on its maternal and child health G8 initiative, the Canadian Press/CTV News reports.

11 Jun 2010

Gamma interferon wakes-up sleeping stem cells to produce immune system cells to fight invading bacteria

Most of the time, the body's blood-forming (hematopoietic) stem cells remain dormant, with just a few producing blood cells and maintaining a balance among the different types.

10 Jun 2010

Baylor Institute of Immunology Research receives nearly $35M as grants in 2009

Even in an economy that's proved devastating to charitable giving and government grants, the Baylor Institute of Immunology Research (BIIR), a component of Baylor Research Institute (BRI), has managed to buck the trend: BIIR received grants totaling nearly $35 million in 2009.

10 Jun 2010