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Where are Australia’s missing hepatitis C cases?

Around 90% of those infected have not received treatment, despite the potential for cure, a report to coincide with National Hepatitis Week shows

18 May 2010

WPI, Cerus announce positive results from study of INTERCEPT Blood System to inactivate XMRV

The Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease (WPI) and Cerus Corporation announced positive results from a study demonstrating the efficacy of the INTERCEPT Blood System to inactivate XMRV, a human retrovirus, in donated platelet components.

18 May 2010

Immunetics receives $2.8M contract as part of NHLBI's REDS-II project

Immunetics, Inc. has been selected to receive a $2.8 million contract as part of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study-II project, a long term epidemiologic study of blood safety involving HIV and other infectious and non-infectious complications of blood transfusion.

18 May 2010

Statue commemorating 30th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox unveiled

A statue commemorating the 30th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox is being unveiled today in front of the World Health Organization headquarters by the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr Margaret Chan.

18 May 2010

KaloBios Pharmaceuticals' KB001 promising in prevention of serious lung infection

The data from the initial clinical studies with KB001, a novel antibody fragment against PcrV on Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) bioengineered by KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and partnered with sanofi pasteur, demonstrated promising therapeutic activity in the prevention of serious lung infection in mechanically ventilated patients colonized with the bacterium and in limiting potentially damaging inflammation in patients with cystic fibrosis, where Pa plays an important role in the disease.

18 May 2010

VBI researchers establish new tree of life for gamma-proteobacteria

A new "tree of life" has been constructed by researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech for the gamma-proteobacteria, a large group of medically and scientifically important bacteria that includes Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and other disease-causing organisms.

18 May 2010

Thai AIDS vaccine trial: Risk of HIV infection can be reduced with a vaccine

For more than a decade, researchers and advocates have marked HIV Vaccine Awareness Day with varying degrees of hope, cynicism and despair. This year, in large part because of the results of the Thai Prime-Boost vaccine study, there is greater cause for hope than ever before and a renewed sense of urgency to transform this hope into a reality.

18 May 2010

New study shows DFA testing for H1N1 influenza unreliable in ICU patients

Direct Immunofluorescence Assay testing for H1N1 influenza is unreliable in ICU patients, according to a new study from Stanford University. Multiple methods exist for diagnosing influenza, but data on the utility and accuracy of these tests for H1N1 are still emerging, given the relatively recent onset of the epidemic.

18 May 2010

GHESKIO honored with 2010 Gates Award for Global Health

GHESKIO, an institution in Haiti founded nearly three decades ago to fight a mysterious killer disease later identified as AIDS, has been awarded the prestigious 2010 Gates Award for Global Health for its years of ground-breaking clinical service, research, and training to treat effectively and prevent the spread of the HIV/AIDS and other related illnesses, the Global Health Council announced today.

18 May 2010

Scientists discover prothymosin-alpha protein to control HIV and other infections

Scientists at Duke University Medical School and Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found a new role for a host protein that provides further insight into how CD8+ T cells work to control HIV and other infections. Study authors say the finding may yield new strategies for prevention or treatment.

18 May 2010

Report examines access to HIV prevention, care for MSM in Asia Pacific

As "HIV prevalence among gay and bisexual men has hit alarming levels in Asia," an estimated 90 percent of men who have sex with men in the Asia Pacific region lack access to HIV prevention and care, according to a report released Monday by the U.N. Development Programme, Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health and the University of Hong Kong's Center for Comparative and Public Law, Reuters reports.

18 May 2010

Five-day World Health Assembly meeting kicks off in Geneva

The annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA) convened on Monday in Geneva, Switzerland, Deutsche Presse-Agentur/Monsters and Critics.com reports. According to the news service, influenza vaccines, the fight against tuberculosis, intellectual property and reducing counterfeit drugs will be discussed (4/17).

18 May 2010

Health Canada grants Response Biomedical Class 3 Medical Device license for RAMP RSV Assay

Response Biomedical Corporation today announced that it has been granted a Class 3 (near patient/point-of-care) Medical Device license by Health Canada to market its RAMP® Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Assay in Canada.

18 May 2010

Australian doctors identify new disease and devise its cure

A team of Australian doctors have identified a new disease and its cure. In their report published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases the doctors from The Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) report a case of a young NSW woman ill for almost a decade with repeated hospitalizations. She is now said to be suffering from a diseases that disabled the signaling processes of her immune system. The diseases is not named yet. Dr Maher Gandhi, head of QIMR's Immunohemotology Laboratory believes there are more cases of this disease. He said this Monday, “I haven't got a name for it other than T-cell signaling defect of which I assume there are quite a few different types… There are no recorded cases of this in the literature. Katie is unique ... I think we're at the tip of the iceberg here.”

17 May 2010

Argos Therapeutics presents AGS-004 autologous dendritic cell therapy Phase 2a trial data at 19th CAHR

Argos Therapeutics today announced the presentation of data from the Phase 2a trial of AGS-004, demonstrating that the personalized immunotherapy has a positive impact on the genetic diversity of residual HIV virus, and also results in substantially increased time to viral rebound in HIV patients treated with AGS-004 following antiretroviral therapy (ART) interruption.

17 May 2010

Hemispherx Biopharma to conduct study of Ampligen antiviral in China

As part of its expanding international program Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc., announced an agreement with Fountain Medical Development Ltd., a leading Chinese clinical research organization (CRO) to prepare, file and gain approval from the authorities in China to conduct a study of Ampligen, an investigational therapeutic.

17 May 2010

Emergent BioSolutions' anthrax monoclonal antibody IND for Phase I study clears FDA review

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced today that its Investigational New Drug (IND) application, to commence a Phase I clinical trial for its anthrax monoclonal antibody therapeutic, has cleared U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review. The Phase I study will evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetics of the company's fully human monoclonal antibody being developed as a parenteral post-exposure therapy for individuals who have symptoms of anthrax disease. In pre-clinical therapeutic studies, Emergent's monoclonal antibody was found to be effective.

17 May 2010

HIV patients falsely diagnosed for TB have higher rates of mortality: Study

HIV-infected patients who are falsely diagnosed as having tuberculosis have higher rates of mortality than those who are correctly diagnosed with the disease, according to a study conducted by researchers at University of California-San Francisco and Makerere University-Kampala.

17 May 2010

Researchers design new technique to quickly distinguish between people with active and dormant TB

An emerging technique designed to quickly distinguish between people with active and dormant tuberculosis may help health professionals diagnose the disease sooner, thereby potentially limiting early exposure to the disease, according to a study conducted by researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

17 May 2010

Treatment with MP-376 reduces P. aeruginosa in CF patients: Research

A new possible treatment to treat P. aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis patients appears to be promising, according to research to be presented at the ATS 2010 International Conference in New Orleans.

17 May 2010