A new study suggests that mothers may be able to transfer antiretroviral immunity during gestation and while breastfeeding when receiving a new antibody-based treatment say researchers from France. They report their findings in the October 2006 issue of the Journal of Virology.
Novartis announced the US regulatory approval of Tyzeka(TM) (telbivudine) as a new once-a-day oral treatment for patients with chronic hepatitis B, a disease estimated to affect about 1.25 million people in the US but more than 350 million globally and considered the tenth leading cause of death.
A drop in day temperatures has brought some relief from dengue in north India even as other parts of the country continued to be in the grip of the mosquito-borne viral fever with 199 fresh cases being reported. Across the country, the total number of dengue patients since early September stood at 7,687.
The results of a massive health simulation conducted this week will be studied to improve Australia’s response to any future disease outbreak, Health Minister Tony Abbott says. More than 1,000 state and federal government officials took part in the $4.1 million exercise to test how prepared Australia is for an outbreak of avian influenza, or bird flu.
Roche and InterMune Inc. announced that the companies have entered into an exclusive worldwide collaboration agreement to develop and commercialize products from InterMune?s Hepatitis C (HCV) protease inhibitor program. The agreement includes InterMune?s lead candidate compound ITMN-191, expected to enter clinical trials before the end of the year. The companies will also collaborate on a research program to identify, develop and commercialize novel second-generation HCV protease inhibitors.
New data released today demonstrate significantly better immune responses in the age range 65 and above when vaccinated with GSK?s new generation (adjuvanted) seasonal flu vaccine compared to a traditional seasonal flu vaccine. These new data are highly important, since the disease burden and death toll is highest among the elderly in each flu season. The data, presented at the Influenza Vaccines for the World (IVW) 2006 Congress, showed the seroprotection rate (90.5%) achieved by the new adjuvanted vaccine in the elderly to be more than 25% higher than that reported in the age matched comparator group.
GlaxoSmithKline (plc) today announced that a supply contract has been signed by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health and GlaxoSmithKline for 8 million doses of GSK?s H5N1 antigen influenza vaccine and its proprietary adjuvant for pre-pandemic use. The order provides enough doses, one per head of the entire Swiss population, to help prepare the immune system against the threat of a human influenza pandemic and is the first national programme to do so. Supply and stockpiling of the pre-pandemic vaccine is expected in early 2007 once the Swiss regulatory agency, Swissmedic, has reviewed and approved GSK?s regulatory file.
Researchers in the Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Caribbean Primate Research Center have discovered a key mechanism by which the Filoviruses, Ebola and Marburg, cause disease. The identification of an amino acid sequence in Filoviruses that results in the rapid depression of immunological response is described in the December 2006 issue of The FASEB Journal. Using this information, researchers can begin to develop new drugs to stop these devastating diseases.
A new HIV study shows how competition among the human immune system’s T cells allows the virus to escape destruction and eventually develop into full-blown AIDS. The study, which employs a computer model of simultaneous virus and immune system evolution, also suggests a new strategy for vaccinating against the virus – a strategy that the computer simulations suggest may prevent the final onset of AIDS.
A new article reviews the literature of quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) that documents abnormal brain wave patterns accompanying several medical conditions. The research implies that neurofeedback training may partially or fully normalize these brain wave patterns, and improve the physical and mental functioning of people with these conditions. The article is in the latest issue of Biofeedback.