Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

Understanding of primate evolution advanced

The completed DNA sequence of the rhesus macaque ,an Old World monkey, has advanced understanding of primate evolution and will enhance medical research in neuroscience, behavioral biology, reproductive physiology, endocrinology, heart and blood vessel disease and immunodeficiency, said scientists at the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) Human Genome Sequencing Center who led the effort.

15 Apr 2007

Coley Pharmaceutical licenses VaxImmune to Merck

Coley Pharmaceutical Group has announced that Merck & Co has licensed Coley's VaxImmune vaccine adjuvant for incorporation into vaccines being developed by Merck for certain infectious diseases and Alzheimer's disease.

15 Apr 2007

Bacteria can barge inside immune cells

Immune cells that are the body's front-line defense don't necessarily rest quietly until invading bacteria lock onto receptors on their outside skins and rouse them to action, as previously thought. In a new paper, University of Michigan scientists describe their findings that bacteria can barge inside these guard cells and independently initiate a powerful immune response.

14 Apr 2007

A wavering commitment to polio eradication is not a good option!

Concerns about the high perceived costs of eradicating the relatively low number of polio cases worldwide have led to recent suggestions that it is time to shift from a goal of eradication to control-abandoning eradication and allowing wild poliovirus to continue to circulate, which proponents of control believe can sustain the low number of cases.

12 Apr 2007

New vaccine to prevent type-1 polio three times as effective as standard vaccine

The study found that each dose of the new monovalent oral poliovirus vaccine, known as mOPV1, protected 30% of susceptible children in northern India against paralytic poliomyelitis. The standard trivalent vaccine in the same setting protected just 11% of children per dose.

12 Apr 2007

Analysis of Rhesus monkey genome provides new clues to primate biology

An international consortium of researchers has published the genome sequence of the rhesus macaque monkey and aligned it with the chimpanzee and human genomes.

12 Apr 2007

Roche and Transgene S.A. partner on HPV vaccine program

Roche and Transgene S.A. have announced that they have entered into an exclusive worldwide collaboration agreement to develop and commercialize products from Transgene's therapeutic vaccine program against Human Papilloma Virus-mediated diseases.

11 Apr 2007

HPV scientists to be honored

The potential for a new vaccine to eliminate cervical cancer caused by the human papillomavirus, or HPV, will be celebrated during the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center's eighth annual Discovery Ball on Saturday, April 28, at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center.

11 Apr 2007

Freedom from the egg holds much promise for new flu vaccines

An experimental flu vaccine made in insect cells – not in eggs, where flu vaccines currently available in the United States are grown – is safe and as effective as conventional vaccines in protecting people against the flu, according to results published in the April 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association .

11 Apr 2007

Rising vaccine costs put kids at risk

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is alarmed that the soaring costs of vaccines combined with lower reimbursements from insurance companies will lead to the under- immunization of the nation's children and unnecessary outbreaks of preventable diseases.

11 Apr 2007

How size matters in the retention of nanomaterials in tissue

Tiny, biodegradable particles filled with medicine may also contain answers to some of the biggest human health problems, including cancer and tuberculosis.

11 Apr 2007

Experimental flu vaccine produced using insect cells shows promise

An influenza vaccine produced with the use of insect cells appeared safe and produced an immunogenic response in healthy adults, suggesting promise as an alternative to using embryonated eggs for the development of influenza vaccine, according to a preliminary study in the April 11 issue of JAMA.

11 Apr 2007

Canada plans to acquire MVA-based smallpox vaccine

The Department of National Defence (DND) in Canada has issued a request for proposal for the acquisition of MVA based smallpox vaccines for the protection of 10,000 people and an option for protecting another 10,000 people.

11 Apr 2007

India is poised to revolutionize biotechnology

India's health biotech firms are emerging as a major global player, with growing means and know-how to produce innovative as well as generic drugs and vaccines at costs small relative to those of giant Western firms, according to ground-breaking Canadian research.

10 Apr 2007

Combination Lyme disease vaccine proteins patented

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators at Stony Brook University have received U.S. Patent Number 7,179,448 for developing chimeric, or "combination," proteins that may advance the development of vaccines and diagnostic tests for Lyme disease.

9 Apr 2007

Study shows beneficial effects of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines in children

Routine infant immunisation with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) has caused a 39% fall in all-cause pneumonia hospital admission rates for American children aged under two years, according to an Article published in this week's edition of The Lancet.

8 Apr 2007