Vaccine Weekly articles from January 2000

Vaccine Weekly archives from January 2000

U.S. Defense Secretary Defends Mandatory Anthrax Inoculations.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen on December 15, 1999, defended mandatory inoculations for all US troops against the deadly anthrax biological agent, saying it would be "irresponsible" of him not to require...

MAGE Gene May Be Immunotherapy Target for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- The MAGE-1 gene is expressed with high frequency in hepatocelluar cancer (HCC). Researchers in China indicate the this gene, and perhaps other MAGE genes, may be potential targets for HCC immunotherapy. In...

Peptide-Based Vaccine Culture Results Not Echoed in Metastatic Disease.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- A study from the United States has demonstrated that, while not associated with regression of metastatic disease, a peptide-based vaccine was able to induce a measurable T-cell-specific immune response in melanoma...

Hepatitis A Vaccine Effective in Those with Chronic Hepatitis B.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- A commercial, inactivated hepatitis A vaccine was equally efficacious in Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B infection and in a control group. "Hepatitis B (HBV)-infected patients have a higher morbidity...

Immune Responses to Acellular Pertussis Vaccine Investigated.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- A study from Finland found several factors involved in immunoglobulin gamma E (IgE) and IgG responses to the acellular pertussis component of the combined diphtheria tetanus acellular pertussis vaccine (DTPa). ...

Hepatitis A Affecting Older Children and Adults in Latin America.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- A changing picture of endemic hepatitis A virus in Latin America was presented recently in a report from Mexico. R. Tapiaconyer and colleagues at the Prevencion and Control Enfermedades in Mexico City...

Mothers Put Off by Number of Hib Injections.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Anyone who has accompanied a baby or toddler receiving immunization can relate to the findings of a study from Ireland. Researchers queried 23 mothers of children ages 1-2 years about the addition of...

Educational Reminder Yields Higher Flu Vaccination Rate in Inner-City Elderly.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- A mailed, patient education brochure resulted in more inner-city elderly people being vaccinated against the flu than a postcard reminder, according to a U.S. study. The brochure, which contained information on...

Nicotine Vaccine Shows Promise for Combating Tobacco Addiction.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- A nicotine vaccine may be an effective method for preventing and treating tobacco addiction, according to a new study funded in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), U.S. National Institutes of...

More "Orphan" Vaccines Needed for Rare Diseases.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Drug companies may need additional incentives if they are to develop vaccines for rare diseases, according to an article in the November-December 1999 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the peer-reviewed...

H. pylori Vaccine Would Be Cost-Effective in U.S., but Not Developing Countries.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- A recent analysis showed that development of a vaccine against the bacterium Helicobacter pylori would be more cost-effective than antibiotics and provide superior health benefits if used in the U.S. ...

Live, Attenuated, Cold-Adapted Flu Vaccine Developed.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- An intranasal, live, attenuated, cold-adapted influenza vaccine has been developed by University of Michigan researchers. "A procedure to attenuate live influenza virus of type A and type B was developed using...

Cancer Vaccine Targets Mutant Genes.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- A new vaccination strategy which may help patients with pancreatic cancer targets genetic mutations that cause healthy cells to become cancerous. Clinical trials of the vaccine have been conducted by a research...

Liposome Technology Shows Promise in Dendritic Cell Therapy for Cancer.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Data on laboratory maturation of dendritic cells using the liposomal encapsulated MUC1 produced by Biomira, Inc., were presented at the American Association of Blood Banks Meeting held in San Francisco, California,...

Specialty Clinics Conducive To Completing Hepatitis B Vaccination Series.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- A study conducted in San Diego County, California, suggests that immunizing adults and adolescents at risk for contracting the hepatitis B virus is accomplished more easily, with the series more likely to be...

Preliminary Results Reported from Malaria DNA Vaccine Trial.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Bioject Medical Technologies, Inc., the leading manufacturer of jet injection devices for needle-free drug delivery, and U.S. Naval Research Center presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of...

Lung Cancer Vaccine Trial Enrollment Completed.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Biomira, Inc., announced that it has completed enrollment of a Phase II clinical trial of BLP25 vaccine for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Results of a Phase I trial in the same indication were...

Companies Announce Broad Antibody Development Agreement.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Medarex, Inc., and IDM, a privately held European biotechnology company, announced the formation of a collaboration involving the use of Medarex's HuMAb-Mouse(TM) technology for the generation of fully human...

Group Supports U.S. Agency's Recognition of Anti-Cancer Vaccine.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Parents whose children are chronically ill with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) nodded their heads with approval as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially recognized the hepatitis B vaccine as the first...

Company Aims for Needle-Free Drugs.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- For millions of people around the world suffering from diabetes, daily injections of insulin are a reality they are forced to live with. Endorex Corp. wants to remove the needle from this and other...

AAP Issues Year 2000 Immunization Schedule.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2000... 2000 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued its year 2000 childhood immunization schedule for the United States. The statement represents unified recommendations from the AAP, the Advisory Committee on...

Recombinant Protein May Hold Key to HCV Protection.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Research in recombinant protein technology may one day lead to an effective vaccine against hepatitis C virus, report researchers from Italy. There is currently no vaccine for hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the...

Scientists Develop Method of Synthesizing Antibodies.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas researchers have discovered a method that may lead to the long-hoped-for efficient and inexpensive production of synthetic antibody substitutes for use in...

Costimulatory Integrin Ligands Stimulate Anti-Tumor Immunity.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) The expression of large numbers of different costimulatory integrin ligands (CILs) provides dendritic cells (DC) with the ability to induce primary antitumor immune responses, report researchers from New Zealand. ...

Learning Which Proteins React With One Another.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Lost amid the fanfare greeting new DNA sequencing milestones is the less glamorous fact that eye-glazing streams of As, Cs, Ts, and Gs, per se, reveal little about how a creature works. In the January 7, 2000,...

HCV-Core Expressing DNA Vaccine May Prevent Infection.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- by Salynn Boyles, Senior Editor -- A DNA vaccine expressing hepatitis C virus-core may prove to be the answer to preventing hepatitis C infection. Experimental hepatitis C virus (HCV), based on the two envelope...

Molecular Genetic Strategies Target Cancer.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Research into genetic strategies for tumor eradication are exploring the regulation of tumor and molecular immunology, report researchers from the United States. Gary J. Nable presented updated data regarding...

Genetically-Modified Dendritic Cells Outperform Cancer Vaccines.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Genetically engineered dendritic cells outperform genetically-modified tumor cell vaccines in a comparison of immunotherapies, research from the United States showed. C. Klein and colleagues from the Harvard...

Dot Blot Test Detects Infection in Vaccine Recipients.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- The commercially available dot blot test can defect Borrelia burgdorferi infection in vaccine recipients. Serology is used routinely as an aid for diagnosing Lyme borreliosis, despite concerns about the...

Process Protects Therapeutic Antibodies In Vivo.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- A novel encapsulation process improves the degree of protection afforded to implants in vivo, researchers from Germany and Austria reported. "The use of microencapsulation as a tool to shield allogenic or...

Mechanisms of Chromosome Missegregation in Cancer Cells Illustrated.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have provided the first graphic illustration of mechanisms by which chromosomes are distributed unevenly during cancer cell division. These results...

5th Annual Gene Quantification: Clinical Application and Drug Development Conference Announced.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI) is pleased to announce its 5th Annual Gene Quantification: Clinical Application and Drug Development conference. This meeting will take place February 7-8, 2000, in San Diego,...

Antibiotic, Antiviral Drug Discovery and Clinical Development Conferences Announced.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Back-to-back conferences featuring the latest pharmaceutical research advances in antibiotic and antiviral discovery and clinical development will take place in Princeton, New Jersey, Strategic Research Institute...

Merck Initiates Naked DNA HIV Vaccine Trial.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Vical Inc. announced the initiation by Merck & Co. Inc. of a Phase I clinical trial testing a naked DNA vaccine to prevent infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes the acquired...

New Patent Covers Isolation of Tick-Borne Pathogen.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Aquila Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent (US # 5976860) covering isolation of the tick-borne pathogen responsible for causing the disease human...

Patent Issued Covering Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases with Heat Shock Proteins.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Antigenics, L.L.C. announced the issuance of a patent with broad claims covering methods of treatment of autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis, with heat shock proteins. The...

Flu Virus Hits United States With a Vengeance.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- The flu, which struck the Western United States hard in December 1999, has arrived like a storm along the East Coast, filling hospital waiting rooms and doctors' offices with ailing patients. "It's bad all...

New Recommendations for Lyme Disease Prevention Issued.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- There are more than 12,000 cases of Lyme disease reported each year in the United States. As a result, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has developed new recommendations for prevention of the disease,...

Groups Forecast Epidemic.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- To reduce the impact of meningitis epidemics, adequate preparedness is crucial, a meeting at the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded during December 1999. Preparedness includes carrying out thorough...

New Appeal on Polio Launched.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- The World Health Organization and the United Nations children's fund on January 5, 2000, urged heads of state of 30 African and Asian countries to make a final push to wipe out polio. WHO and UNICEF sent the...

Vaccine Update Issued.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 19, 2000... 2000 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Many children in the United States remain unvaccinated for varicella - commonly known as chickenpox - an extremely common and highly infectious disease. The result is continued illness, hospitalizations, and death...

Increased Dendritic Cells Increase Vaccine Efficacy.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- Procedures which increase the number of circulating dendritic cells (DCs) improve the efficacy of cancer vaccines, researchers from the United States reported. "DCs initiate primary and stimulate secondary...

Autologous Vaccine Is Therapeutic In Tumor Model.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- An autologous cancer vaccine improved survival in a murine model of metastatic colorectal cancer, reported researchers from the United States. "In preclinical studies, tumor cells genetically altered to...

Immunoglobulin Administration Beneficial to Anemic Fetuses.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- Immunoglobulin administration to fetuses can improve fetal hemolysis, researchers from Austria reported. "The purpose of this study was to examine fetal tolerance of high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG),...

Study Finds HIV Infection Differs in Men, Women.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- Women may be infected by the HIV virus in a different way than men, according to a study published in the journal Nature, suggesting it could be even harder to develop a vaccine that would work well on women. ...

Promising New Class of Vaccines Discovered.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc, announced an important scientific discovery that may significantly help in the development of an effective vaccine against HIV. The finding is described in the Journal of...

Contraindicated No Longer in Hypotonic-Hyporesponsive Children.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- Pertussis vaccination is no longer contraindicated in children who have experienced hypotonic-hyporesponsive to previous vaccination, suggests a study from Australia. "Hypotonic-hyporesponsive episodes (HHE)...

Vitamin E Derivative Boosts Immune Response to Nasal Vaccination.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- Vitamin E TPGS (d-(alpha)tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate), a water soluble derivative of vitamin E, may be of value as a mucosal adjuvant. Researcher S. Somavarapu and colleagues at Aston...

Cytokine Gene Transfer Attacks Melanoma Cells.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- A DNA vaccine encoding interleukin-12 (IL-12) has an anti-metastatic effect against malignant melanoma, reported researchers from Switzerland. K. Moelling and colleagues from the University of Zurich,...

Genital Herpes Vaccine Tested.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers with Cantab Pharmaceuticals Research Ltd., Cambridge, UK, presented results of their study of a disabled infectious single cycle herpes simplex type 2 (DISC HSV-2) vaccine to the Joint Congress of The...

Humoral Immune Responses to Multiple Antigen Peptide Vaccine Studied.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- A recent study investigated immunogenicity in mice to a multiple antigen peptide containing an epitope from Plasmodium falciparum liver stage antigen-1. "The development of multiple antigen peptides (MAP) has...

Rates of Influenza and Pneumonia Immunization Low Among Medicare Beneficiaries.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- The cost of flu and pneumonia vaccines is reimbursed by Medicare, yet most Medicare beneficiaries age 65 or older are not immunized. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers assessed the...

First Randomized Trial of a Colon Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- Using a patient's own tumor cells to produce immunity against further cancer growth may offer longer life to some patients, researchers have found in the first randomized multi-center test of immunotherapy in colon...

Agreement Announced for Needle-Free Delivery of Saizen Human Growth Hormone.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- Serono Laboratories, Inc., a leading biotechnology company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and Bioject Medical Technologies Inc. a leading developer and manufacturer of jet injection systems for needle-free...

US Pledges $150 Million to Help Against AIDS.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- US vice president Al Gore, presiding over his first United Nations Security Council session on January 10, 2000, announced $150 million in stepped-up US contributions in the worldwide battle against AIDS,...

Antihepatitis C Ribozyme IND Filed by Lilly and RPI.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 26, 2000... 2000 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com) -- Eli Lilly and Company and Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (RPI), announced that an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) has been submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin clinical testing...