Vaccine Weekly articles from December 2000

Vaccine Weekly archives from December 2000

Researchers Investigate Regulation of Immune System Memory.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- If a person's immune system successfully fights off an infection, not only does he recover, but he also acquires immunity against re-infection by that same pathogen. The ability of the immune system to...

Recombinant Yeast Vaccine Protects Mice Against Fungal Infection.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Despite the long and successful history of vaccine use, primarily for viral diseases, fungal pathogens have only rarely been considered as targets for vaccination. To date, only one antifungal vaccine,...

Heat Shock Protein-Peptide Complex Shown Safe and Immunogenic in Humans.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Results of a pilot study of a heat shock protein-peptide vaccine in patients with advanced cancer show the preparation is safe and produces an effective immune response. One of the benefits of heat...

Antibody Response to Vaccine Diminished by Roundworm Infection.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Children infected with the roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides fail to mount as effective an immune response to the oral cholera vaccine as children without ascariasis. Based on the results of a recent...

Clade B-Based Vaccine Induces Cross-Clade Immune Responses.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A vaccine developed from clade B laboratory strains of HIV was shown to induce antibodies with cross-clade reactivity in a study conducted by U.S. Veterans Affairs researchers. They point out that...

Flu Vaccine Not Effective in Lung Transplant Patients.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Humoral immune response data indicate that the influenza vaccine is not effective in lung transplant patients. As flu season envelops the northern hemisphere, these patients will need to find other...

Study Suggests BCG Vaccine in Neonates is Not Meaningful Anti-Cancer Prophylaxis.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- While not conclusive, study results suggest that bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) immunization of newborns is not likely to influence reduction of later risk of leukemia. R. Vonkries and colleagues...

Combination Typhoid Fever/Hepatitis A Vaccine Shown Effective, Well Tolerated.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Good news for travellers to regions endemic for typhoid fever and hepatitis A: there may be one less shot in the arm in your future. Researchers with SmithKline Beecham Biologicals, Rixensart,...

Parents Support Immunization, Yet Misconceptions Persist.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new survey of 1,600 parents in the U.S., published in the November 2000 issue of the journal Pediatrics, revealed that the majority of parents understand the clear benefits of childhood immunization,...

Phase III Vaccine Study Gets Second Approval from Data Safety Monitoring Board.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Biomira Inc. (BIOM; BRA), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, announced that an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) has reviewed data from approximately 600 patients in its pivotal trial and...

M-Vax Reported to Prolong Survival in Resected Stage IV Patients.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Avax Technologies, Inc. (AVXT), Kansas City, Missouri, announced that data relating to M-Vax, its proprietary autologous cell vaccine for melanoma, were presented at the 18th Chemotherapy Foundation...

Two Studies Reflect Revolution in AD Research.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Some Alzheimer's disease (AD) researchers have recently shifted their focus away from a search for genes (and gene therapy) to a more immediate approach: trying to prevent or reverse the destruction of...

Novel Approach to Improve Immunization Efficiency Identified.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at Dendreon Corporation have reported a novel method for generating an enhanced immune response with potentially important implications for improving the efficiency of therapeutic cancer...

Recruiting At-Risk Women to HIV Vaccine Trials Isn't Easy.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Recruiting women to and keeping them in HIV vaccine efficacy trials is a challenge. Workers in The New York Blood Center report that such efforts need to draw from a variety of sources and involve...

NIH Funds Institute of Human Virology and the University of Maryland for Trials Center.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Institute of Human Virology (IHV) and the University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) in Baltimore will receive an award of more than $7 million for a...

Clinical Trials for Vaccine Adjuvant Begin.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Aquila Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (AQLA), Framingham, Massachusetts, announced the initiation of an NIAID/DMID-sponsored clinical trial at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, to evaluate the effectiveness...

Phase I/II Clinical Trial Initiated for MS.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Immune Response Corp. (IMNR), Carlsbad, California, announced that it has initiated a Phase I/II clinical trial with its investigational immune-based therapy in multiple sclerosis (MS) to confirm...

Data Presented on Hepatitis E Vaccine Tested in Rhesus Monkeys.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2000... 2000 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Preliminary data from studies of a 53 kDa protein vaccine against hepatitis E virus indicate it produces an immunogenic response in rhesus monkeys. Researchers with the U.S. National Institutes of...

Six-Month Booster of Recombinant OspA Vaccine Suggested.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Study findings suggest recipients of the recombinant OspA vaccine to prevent Lyme disease may need a booster at six months, rather than at one year. Reporting at the joint 64th annual scientific...

Vibrio cholerae Toxin Demonstrates Novel Mechanism of Action.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Harvard University medical researchers have discovered that epithelial-cell rounding, evident as a response to Vibrio cholerae infection, is due to a unique mechanism of action for a toxin produced by...

Novel Vaccine Protects Monkeys from Deadly Infection.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Few viruses are more feared than Ebola virus, the deadly microbe that periodically attacks African villages and kills up to 90% of those it infects. Although other viral diseases claim more lives each...

Study Mulls Hepatitis B Vaccination Rate.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A study of three large Vietnamese-American communities found extremely low rates of vaccination among youngsters for hepatitis B, a sometimes fatal liver disease that is prevalent among Vietnamese...

Chronic Immune Response is Reaction to Intramuscularly-Administered Vaccines Containing Aluminum.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers in France suggest they've ferreted out the cause of macrophagic myofascitis. They say this chronic immune response is linked to intramuscular injection of aluminum-containing vaccines....

Stress Levels Can Affect Success of Vaccinations.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- How well a pneumonia vaccination will protect elderly Americans may depend on how stressed they are when they get the shots. A new study is showing that even after six months, the vaccine may have...

Grant Received to Study Development of Edible Vaccine.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Research on development of an edible vaccine for HIV produced from transgenic plants will be funded through an Innovation Grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and conducted by...

CDC: Flu Shot Shortages Easing.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The shortage of flu vaccine in the U.S. is expected to ease by mid-December, allowing people who have postponed getting a shot to be vaccinated. Nearly 70% of the expected 75 million vaccinations...

Subcontract Award Received for Vaccine Research and Development.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- EntreMed, Inc. (ENMD), Rockville, Maryland, announced that is has been selected as a subcontractor for a U.S. federal malaria vaccine initiative. The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and...

New Outbreak Raises Questions About Whether Vaccinations Can Stop.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The first outbreak of polio in the Western Hemisphere in nearly a decade is raising questions about whether vaccinations can ever be stopped, and the type of vaccine being used in most countries. "This...

Studies Reveal Accelerated Improvement of Immune System and Antiviral Reactivity.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A multicenter, controlled study has shown that low daily doses of the T-cell growth factor interleukin 2 (IL2) can be given to individuals with chronic HIV infection and low lymphocyte concentrations...

Enhanced Immune Response Improves Immunization Efficiency.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at Dendreon Corporation have reported a novel method for generating an enhanced immune response with potentially important implications for improving the efficiency of therapeutic cancer...

Over 130 Medicines in the Works for Infectious Disease, Diseases of Aging.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Results of a new survey show that 84 pharmaceutical companies are currently developing 137 new medicines to prevent and treat infectious diseases, according to the Pharmaceutical Research and...

Vaccine with Novel Delivery Method Enters Human Trials.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Virax Holdings Limited (VHL), Melbourne, Australia, announced ethics committee approval has been received so removing the last hurdle to the start of a human clinical trial of a vaccine to treat people...

Whole-Blood Assay Gives Rapid Picture of Immune Response to Antiretroviral Therapy.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers in Germany have developed a simple, rapid whole-blood assay that estimates total HIV-reactive CD4 and CD8 cells in patients on antiretroviral therapy. According to Martina Sester and...

U.S. National Flu Surveillance Network Enters Season with Record Participation.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The National Flu Surveillance Network) (NFSN), the largest influenza disease surveillance network in the United States, enters the 2000/2001 influenza season with 6,151 participating physicians at...

Global Partnerships for Health, Biotech Content Announced.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- NewsRx.com(TM), Atlanta, Georgia, recently announced partnerships with several international firms, including EBSCO Online, Factiva, and the new iSyndicate Europe-Bertelsmann venture. "iSyndicate...

Largest Outbreak in the U.S. in Five Years Moved from Work Environment to Community.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2000... 2000 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A large rubella outbreak in 1999 among unvaccinated persons spread from the workplace to the community, with transmission facilitated by crowded working and living conditions, according to an article...

Multi-Center Trial Underway in Alabama.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) are testing a new HIV vaccine to determine if it is safe and whether it induces an immune response in the body. The multi-center study...

Recombinant BCG Vaccines Confer More Potent Protective Immunity.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- University of California, Los Angeles, researchers have developed two recombinant bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccines against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. They report in the Proceedings of the...

Plants Sweat Drug Proteins in Morning Dew.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The "sweat" of plants could in the future yield a rich harvest of drugs and chemicals. That is the hope of researchers who have created tobacco plants that ooze foreign proteins from their leaves...

Different Patients Need Different Needle Sizes.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A standard-size needle does not guarantee successful administration of vaccines in all people, especially for patients over a certain weight, according to an editorial in a recent issue of the British...

Study Suggests Flu Vaccine Linked to Reduced Heart Disease.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For the first time, a vaccination has been linked to a reduction in heart disease events. Researchers with the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston report a 67% drop in angina and...

Electricity Increases Strength of DNA-Based Hepatitis C Vaccine.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Low voltage pulses of electricity appear to increase the strength of an experimental hepatitis C vaccine more than 10-fold. Researchers from Italy and Merck Research Labs reported their results in...

Human Immunocontraceptive Vaccine Under Development.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Zonagen, Inc. announced that it has entered into an option agreement with Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, the pharmaceutical division of American Home Products Corporation, to collaborate in the development...

New Vaccine to be Tested.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cancer researchers are testing a new vaccine that they hope will use the body's immune system to attack cancer cells. The trial is for patients who have a form of skin cancer called melanoma in...

Cooperative Development of Tumor Vaccine Considered.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Biovest International, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, announced that it has entered negotiations with the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) for a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement...

Phase II Clinical Trial Demonstrates Antitumor Activity of Vaccine.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cell Genesys, Inc. (CEGE), Foster City, California, reported that the company's Gvax prostate cancer vaccine demonstrated antitumor activity in an initial Phase II trial in patients with advanced...

STD Vaccine Patent Targets Chlamydia.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Antex Biologics Inc. (ANX) announced that it has filed patent applications for two additional novel proteins of Chlamydia trachomatis, the leading sexually transmitted disease in the U.S. and...

Technology Developed for Oral/Nasal Delivery of Anti-Infective Agents.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals Inc., Bozeman, Montana, announced that it will develop "M Cell" vaccine technology from Montana State University (MSU) for the delivery of anti-infective agents via oral and...

Viral Infections May Trigger Conditions Via Rare, But Normal Process.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Viral infections may be responsible for triggering autoimmune disorders in certain people. The body's immune system has sophisticated safeguards in place to prevent it from turning its destructive...

Animal Model Demonstrates Efficacy of Microdevice System.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Bell-Nichols, staff medical writer -- Researchers at Becton Dickinson Technologies recently introduced a novel vaccine method which, if it proves to be as effective in humans as it does in...

Outbreaks Reported in Kentucky, Colorado.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Public health officials reported December 7, 2000, a hepatitis outbreak in which at least six people in Kentucky were infected. Among those infected with hepatitis A was a worker at a Taco Bell...

Study of Young Adults Finds Combined Hepatitis A and B Vaccine Effective.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Young adults can be effectively immunized by combined hepatitis A and B vaccines, authors of a new study conducted in Taiwan have proposed. This finding is the result of a comparative study of 80...

Anti-Fever Drugs May Prolong Flu.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at the University of Maryland schools of medicine and pharmacy found that anti-fever drugs such as aspirin and acetaminophen may prolong influenza A infections. The study results were...

Hepatitis and Rubella Screening Policies Not Always Followed in Hospitals.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Some hospitals do not always screen pregnant women the way they should prior to and following delivery, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologists stated recently in the American...

Collaboration Aims to Develop TB Vaccine.(Brief Article)
December 27, 2000... 2000 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Galenica Pharmaceuticals, Frederick, Maryland, announced that it has entered into an agreement with the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the U.S. National Institute...