Pandemic News and Research

RSS

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.

Influenza A H1N1 Real Time RT-PCR tests detect RNA of H1N1 influenza virus

Focus Diagnostics, the infectious disease diagnostics business of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, today announced that its Influenza A H1N1 (2009) Real Time RT-PCR test is now available as a test kit for use by "high complexity" clinical laboratories in the U.S.

21 Aug 2009

WHO says confirmed H1N1 deaths worldwide reach 1,800

According to the latest WHO report out Wednesday, the number of confirmed H1N1 (swine) flu deaths since its emergence in April has reached 1,799 - a jump from 1,462 deaths since the agency's last update, Agence France-Presse/the Australian reports.

20 Aug 2009

Inovio Biomedical records $2.9 million revenues in the six months ended June 30, 2009

Inovio Biomedical Corporation (NYSE AMEX: INO) (“Inovio”) today reported financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2009. Total revenue of $2.5 million and $2.9 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2009, compared to $663,000 and $1.3 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2008, respectively.

20 Aug 2009

Newly joined Vice President to provide leadership for IAVI's fundraising strategy

Dianne Stewart, former head of Board and Donor relations at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, has joined the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) as Vice President of Resource Development. In her role at IAVI, Ms. Stewart will provide leadership for the organization’s fundraising strategy focused on both the public and private sectors.

20 Aug 2009

U.S. Food and Drug Administration launches new Center for Tobacco Products

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today launched its new Center for Tobacco Products in an historic effort to curb the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by those products each year.

19 Aug 2009

H1N1 vaccine orders top 1 billion, WHO Says

"Northern hemisphere countries have so far ordered more than one billion doses of swine flu vaccine, the World Health Organisation said Tuesday, sparking warnings over shortages," Agence France-Presse reports. While some countries, including Greece, The Netherlands, Canada and Israel, have ordered enough vaccine to inoculate their citizens, "[o]thers, such as Germany, the United States, Britain and France, have put in orders that would cover between 30 and 78 percent of people," the news service writes.

19 Aug 2009

Common-sense precautions for H1N1

Doctors and hospitals nationwide expect a surge in H1N1 influenza cases during the upcoming flu season. In a new video and the tips below, Yvonne Maldonado, MD, chief of infectious disease at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, explains what every parent should know about H1N1 flu as children head back to school.

19 Aug 2009

Sinovac Biotech announces positive results from clinical trial of H1N1 vaccine

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. announced today positive top-line results from the completed clinical trial for its internally-developed H1N1 vaccine. The clinical data unblinding conference was held in Beijing on the afternoon of August 17, 2009. Notably, Sinovac is the first company worldwide to complete clinical trials for the H1N1 vaccine.

19 Aug 2009

Novavax reports positive preclinical results for H1N1 influenza VLP vaccine

Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX) announced positive preclinical results with Novavax's 2009 novel H1N1 influenza virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine. The study, conducted by scientists from Novavax and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) based in Atlanta, GA, under a collaborative agreement, represents the first efficacy report of a 2009 novel H1N1 vaccine in ferrets. The ferret model is widely accepted to be the most appropriate animal model for evaluating influenza disease and vaccines. Novavax scientists designed the vaccine using recombinant virus like particles (VLP) technology against an H1N1 virus strain (A/California/04/2009) isolated in the beginning of the 2009 H1N1 outbreak.

19 Aug 2009

Hard to Treat Diseases' swine flu clinical trials in progress

Hard to Treat Diseases (HTDS.PK) Mellow Hope, an operating subsidiary of HTDS, is pleased to report that its clinical trial is currently being processed.

19 Aug 2009

Aethlon Medical Chairman to present at the 14th Annual Southern California Investor Conference

Aethlon Medical, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: AEMD) announced that it will present at today's 14th Annual Southern California Investor Conference being held at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach, California.

19 Aug 2009

George Rehm and David Mahoney joins Adamas' Board of Directors

Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held company, announced today that it has closed a $40 million Series D round of funding led by aeris CAPITAL AG and DAG Ventures. Earlier investors MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures and Northgate Capital also participated in the round. In conjunction with the financing, the company announced the election of George M. Rehm, Managing Partner of aeris CAPITAL AG, and David L. Mahoney, a private equity investor, to the company's Board of Directors.

19 Aug 2009

Elsevier/Lancet launch H1N1 resource centre

An H1N1 influenza channel has been added to the Elsevier Global Medical News (EGMN) wire service division of the International Medical News Group. The H1N1 channel was created to meet physicians' continuing needs to keep up-to-date with the news about the spread of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, as well as the new diagnostics, vaccines, clinical trials, and treatments for H1N1 infections.

18 Aug 2009

H1N1 pandemic: no time for complacency

Prevention of H1N1 influenza virus through vaccination must be our top priority if disease patterns in the northern hemisphere follow those in the southern hemisphere this fall, writes Paul Hébert, Editor-in-Chief of CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) in an editorial.

18 Aug 2009

GSK starts testing H1N1 vaccine; Opinion piece addresses U.S. role in helping developing countries procure vaccine

"GlaxoSmithKline has started testing its pandemic H1N1 swine flu vaccine in humans, and expects to start giving the results to government agencies next month, the drugmaker said on Friday," Reuters reports. The company "plans to conduct 16 different trials of the vaccine and to test 9,000 people in total across Europe, Canada and the United States," according to the news service (Deighton, 8/14).

17 Aug 2009

PEPFAR partners with BD to improve blood collection safety in Africa

PEPFAR and the global medical technology company BD announced an iniative Tuesday that will work to improve blood collection safety in clinics and hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa – an issue that PANA/Afrique en ligne reports has "become more critical than ever in sub-Saharan nations and other developing countries severely impacted by the HIV/AIDS pandemic" (8/12).

16 Aug 2009

New microneedle-based injection device from Nanopass

Following the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of a swine flu pandemic, NanoPass Technologies Ltd. (NanoPass) announced today that it has successfully developed a microneedle-based injection device that could dramatically enhance both the effectiveness and supply of pandemic flu vaccines.

14 Aug 2009

Updated, evidence-based guidelines highlight primary care needs of HIV patients

With HIV patients living longer thanks to advances in treatment, the primary care needs of those living with HIV have never been more important. Updated, evidence-based guidelines from the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) are designed to help providers manage the care of those living with this complex chronic infection.

14 Aug 2009

Mumbai closes schools, some businesses in effort to fight H1N1 spread

Beginning on Thursday, "Mumbai, India’s commercial capital, will shut schools and movie theaters as swine flu-related deaths jumped, ignoring federal government advice to keep educational institutions open," Bloomberg reports. Schools will close for seven days and malls and cinemas for three in an effort to contain the virus, Prajakta Lavangare, a director general of the Maharashtra state government, explained Wednesday (Jatakia/Chatterjee, 8/12).

13 Aug 2009

Health officials gather in South Africa to discuss H1N1 in Africa

On Tuesday, South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi cautioned that Africa might be hit harder by H1N1 (swine) flu than other parts of the world, the Associated Press reports (8/11).

12 Aug 2009