Meningitis News and Research

Latest Meningitis News and Research

Senators pledge regulation of compounding pharmacies

At a Capitol Hill hearing, senators from both parties promised to take action following a meningitis outbreak that killed 32 people.

17 Nov 2012

New pneumococcal vaccine highly effective in infants

A new conjugate vaccine is highly effective (93–100%) at preventing invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD; meningitis, sepsis, bacteremic pneumonia, and other blood-borne infections) in infants younger than 2 years who are the most vulnerable to infection, according to new research published Online First in The Lancet.

16 Nov 2012

Meningitis vaccine declared usable without refrigeration for up to four days

"In a breakthrough for the fight against meningitis in poor countries, researchers say the WHO has ruled that a key vaccine can be transported or stored for up to four days without refrigeration," Agence France-Presse reports.

16 Nov 2012

FDA chief's call for greater oversight of drug compounders triggers Republican skepticism

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday questioned Food and Drug Administration head Margaret Hamburg and the co-owner of a compounding pharmacy linked with a deadly meningitis outbreak. Hamburg called for Congress to give the FDA greater oversight of compounding pharmacies, which was met with skepticism by Republican lawmakers.

16 Nov 2012

Viewpoints: Obama must tell allies that entitlements can't be excluded from fiscal deal; Medical device tax will thwart innovation

As bipartisan negotiations over avoiding the "fiscal cliff" draw nearer, many of President Obama's core Democratic supporters are urging him to fix the debt through defense cuts and tax increases rather than by tackling Social Security, Medicare and other federal entitlement programs. It's a reprise of progressive resistance to the entitlement trims Mr. Obama contemplated during the abortive debt-reduction negotiations with House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) last year.

15 Nov 2012

First Edition: November 15, 2012

Today's headlines include the latest details on states' decisions about pursuing health exchanges as well as other political and policy developments.

15 Nov 2012

Viewpoints: Voters want Medicare protected in 'grand bargain;' Increases in taxes can't cover the 'fiscal cliff'; Kids' health needs more attention

As the ranking member on the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, let me simply state the hard truth. To avoid the fiscal cliff and to get our budget deficit and the national debt under control, we need to do three things simultaneously: cut spending, increase revenue and have the courage to put everything on the table in a responsible, bipartisan manner.

15 Nov 2012

Pharmaceutical compounding problems spread under lax regulation

News outlets report that congressional oversight was lacking and the Boston Globe uncovers documents about the company that started the meningitis outbreak.

15 Nov 2012

Close contact at school led to mumps outbreak in Orthodox Jewish communities

A 2009 outbreak of mumps in the USA that primarily affected Orthodox Jewish teenage boys may have been perpetuated by close schooling conditions, say the authors of a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

9 Nov 2012

New vaccines and drug treatments urgently needed for bacterial meningitis

New vaccines and drug treatments are urgently needed for bacterial meningitis, a devastating disease which kills or maims around a fifth of people who contract it, according to medical experts writing in a new Series on bacterial meningitis, published in The Lancet.

9 Nov 2012

RTS,S vaccine candidate can help protect African infants against malaria

International African Vaccinology Conference, Cape Town, South Africa-Results from a pivotal, large-scale Phase III trial, published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that the RTS,S malaria vaccine candidate can help protect African infants against malaria.

9 Nov 2012

Mass. fires head of board overseeing compounding pharmacies

Officials say James Coffey did not investigate a complaint from Colorado about the center now tied to the meningitis outbreak.

9 Nov 2012

Previous meningitis outbreak did not trigger additional oversight, changes

The Washington Post reports that, despite an outbreak of fungal meningitis that took place 10 years ago and was linked to injections made by a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts, not much has changed. Meanwhile, Politico adds that a recall of drugs related to the most recent round of illness could add to a critical drug shortage.

7 Nov 2012

Mass. adopts stricter rules, penalties for compounding pharmacies

The emergency regulations will allow the state to monitor contamination and the volume of medicines being made.

3 Nov 2012

Legislation planned to tighten oversight of compounding pharmacies

Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., will introduce legislation requiring compounding pharmacies to meet the sterility, record-keeping and manufacturing standards faced by large drug makers.

3 Nov 2012

NICE decides to recommend Bristol-Myers Squibb’s YERVOY for treatment of advanced melanoma

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company is pleased to announce that today the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has decided to recommend YERVOY (ipilimumab), which is approved in the European Union for the treatment of previously-treated metastatic (advanced) melanoma, within the Final Appraisal Determination (FAD).

3 Nov 2012

NCAR launches study into impact of open-fire cooking on regional air quality and disease

Expanding its focus on the link between the atmosphere and human health, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is launching a three-year, international study into the impact of open-fire cooking on regional air quality and disease.

3 Nov 2012

Intensified antibiotic treatment can improve prognosis of patients with TB meningitis

Researchers from the Radboud UMC have conducted the first study globally to show that intensified antibiotic treatment can improve the prognosis of patients with tuberculous (TB) meningitis, the most severe form of TB which carries a mortality of up to 50%.

3 Nov 2012

Compounding pharmacies rarely get tough punishments; Another firm recalls drugs

USA Today examines how officials have dealt with charges of misconduct at the pharmacies in the past. Meanwhile, a compounding pharmacy, which is owned by the same company that owned the plant linked to the meningitis outbreak, is recalling its products after an FDA review.

2 Nov 2012

First Edition: November 1, 2012

Today's headlines include highlights from the campaign trail, from the top of the ticket to some of the attention-grabbing Senate races across the country, as well as a report that the Obama administration will not oppose efforts to reopen the religious challenge to the health law.

1 Nov 2012