Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

CFDA issues new drug certificate and production license for Sinovac's EV71 vaccine

Sinovac Biotech Ltd., a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced that the China Food and Drug Administration issued the new drug certificate and production license for its Enterovirus 71 ("EV71") vaccine.

4 Jan 2016

Small airway-on-a-chip enables analysis of human COPD and asthma

A research team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University leveraged its organ-on-a-chip technology to develop a model of the human small airway in which lung inflammatory diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the third leading cause of mortality worldwide, and asthma can be studied outside the human body.

22 Dec 2015

BiondVax's patent application for universal flu vaccine accepted in Israel

BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. which is developing the Universal Flu Vaccine, announced today that its patent application in Israel on the Multimeric Multi-Epitope Polypeptide Influenza Vaccines (a universal flu vaccine), was accepted.

21 Dec 2015

NIAID scientists successfully test prime-boost H7N9 influenza vaccine concept in clinical trial

In clinical trials, several candidate H7N9 pandemic influenza vaccines made from inactivated viruses have been shown to be safe and to generate an immune response. However, scientists believe for practical use, these potential vaccines would require multiple doses or the addition of adjuvants, which enhance the immune response.

12 Dec 2015

Halyard Health to develop high-speed machine to manufacture respirators for use during pandemic

Halyard Health Inc., formerly Kimberly-Clark Health Care, today announced that it has been awarded a contract by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). Under the contract, BARDA will fund research by Halyard to develop a one-of-a-kind, high-speed machine to manufacture N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators (FFRs) that can be used during a pandemic.

10 Dec 2015

Sinovac gets approval to begin clinical trials on Sabin Inactivated Polio Vaccine candidate

Sinovac Biotech Ltd., a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced that the Company has obtained approval to begin human clinical trials on its Sabin Inactivated Polio Vaccine (or "sIPV") candidate.

10 Dec 2015

Incidence of HIV in Europe reaches record high

Results of recent surveillance conducted by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the WHO Regional Office for Europe indicate that the annual number of newly diagnosed HIV infections in Europe reached an all-time high in 2014.

27 Nov 2015

Seqirus announces FDA approval of Fluad for seasonal influenza

Seqirus announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Fluad (Influenza Vaccine, Adjuvanted) to help protect those aged 65 years and older against seasonal influenza. Fluad is the first adjuvanted seasonal influenza vaccine approved in the United States; it was specifically developed for the adult population aged 65 and older.

25 Nov 2015

People with viral infections and identical gene mutations may be prone to hyperinflammatory disorder

A group of people with fatal H1N1 flu died after their viral infections triggered a deadly hyperinflammatory disorder in susceptible individuals with gene mutations linked to the overactive immune response, according to a study in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

25 Nov 2015

Experts share 10 steps to prevent future disease outbreaks

An independent group of 19 experts from around the globe, convened by the Harvard Global Health Institute and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, has issued a hard-hitting analysis of the global response to the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, published in The Lancet.

23 Nov 2015

TGen receives 2015 Regents' Award for Outstanding Service to Higher Education

The Arizona Board of Regents presented the Translational Genomics Research Institute with its 2015 Regents' Award for Outstanding Service to Higher Education, recognizing the extensive research TGen has conducted in association with Northern Arizona University.

21 Nov 2015

Researchers devise system to accelerate the process of making life-saving vaccines

Researchers at Brigham Young University have devised a system to speed up the process of making life-saving vaccines for new viruses.

20 Nov 2015

Last resort antibiotics may no longer work

E.coli has become resistant to the last line of antibiotics we have left and untreatable bugs may already be circulating in Britain, warn scientists.

19 Nov 2015

Combatting viral and bacterial lung infections with volatile anesthetics: an interview with Dr Chakravarthy

Inhaled anesthetics are fairly common all over the world for minor and extensive surgical procedures in patients of all age groups. In the olden days when anesthesia was first developed, ether was the first inhaled anesthetic. That has been replaced, with the more recent discoveries of sevoflurane, isoflurane, and desflurane.

9 Nov 2015

BD reports quarterly adjusted revenues of $3.067 billion for fourth fiscal quarter 2015

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a leading global medical technology company, today reported quarterly adjusted revenues of $3.067 billion for the fourth fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2015, an increase of 39.3 percent over the prior-year period as reported, or 49.1 percent on a currency-neutral basis.

4 Nov 2015

Self-disseminating vaccines could prevent EID transmission from animals to humans

The 2014/2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa shone the spotlight not only on the unpreparedness of local health services and science to deal with the pandemic, but also on the phenomenon of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs).

2 Nov 2015

Despite reduced HIV/AIDS deaths, disease still persists in South Africa

After peaking in 2007, AIDS mortality in South Africa has decreased with the widespread introduction of effective antiretroviral therapy, according to updated estimates published in AIDS, official journal of the International AIDS Society. AIDS is published by Wolters Kluwer.

30 Oct 2015

Sinovac Dalian receives approval to start human clinical trials of varicella vaccine candidate

Sinovac Biotech Ltd., a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced that one of its subsidiaries, Sinovac Dalian, has received approval to begin human clinical trials on its varicella vaccine candidate. The clinical trial application for the varicella vaccine was officially accepted by the China Food and Drug Administration in January 2013.

26 Oct 2015

Drug engineered from bananas could fight off wide range of viruses

A banana a day may not keep the doctor away, but a substance originally found in bananas and carefully edited by scientists could someday fight off a wide range of viruses, new research suggests.

23 Oct 2015

CDC publishes reports on infectious and noninfectious diseases

Beginning with the Oct. 23, 2015, Supplements to Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), CDC will publish the summaries of all notifiable conditions – infectious and noninfectious – at the same time.