Vaccine Weekly articles from September 2002

Vaccine Weekly archives from September 2002

Brucellosis vaccine protects against liver and spleen infection, but not lung infection.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Mice immunized intranasally with a vaccine composed of lipopolysaccharide from Brucella combined with a membrane protein of Neisseria received some...

Efficacy of tuberculosis vaccine increased by formulation with a cationic colloid.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Researchers in Europe and the U.S. found that adding a cationic colloid to DNA vaccine formulations increased splenic and pulmonary immune responses...

VSV-based vaccine may protect against papillomavirus.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in the United States say that a novel rabbit papillomavirus vaccine prevents infection in animals and could be modified to protect against human...

Varicella vaccine protects hematopoietic-cell transplant patients against zoster.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Varicella vaccination can protect patients who receive hematopoietic-cell transplants against zoster, according to a report in the New England Journal...

Virulent poliovirus causes paralysis in baby.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - A mutated strain of poliovirus derived from the Sabin vaccine strain caused paralytic poliomyelitis in a baby who possessed a competent immune system....

U.K. researchers announce positive results for gene-based therapeutic vaccine.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Oxford BioMedica, plc, has released date from phase I/II clinical trial of TroVax, a gene-based therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of colorectal cancer. The data, presented at the International...

Vical announces second-quarter 2002 financial results.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Vical, Inc., (VICL) announced that financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2002, met expectations, and reflected continuing progress in the company's product development programs. The...

MedImmune receives complete response letter from FDA for FluMist.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- MedImmune, Inc., (MEDI) announced that it has received a complete response letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Biologics License Application (BLA) for FluMist (influenza...

Cause of virulence pinpointed.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have located two genes that give hepatitis A virus (HAV) its virulent properties. The team, led by Suzanne...

Henry Schein first to ship vaccine to doctors.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Henry Schein, Inc., (HSIC) has begun shipping Fluvirin influenza vaccine from U.K.-based PowderJect to customers, including office-based physicians, across the United States. The company plans to ship...

Indian state seeks federal help to tackle outbreak after 80 die.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The northeastern Indian state of Assam sought federal help August 2, 2002, after an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis killed at least 80 people, mostly children, in the previous month. An...

Board reviews safety data of BLP25 vaccine phase IIB study.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Biomira, Inc., announced that an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) has reviewed safety data from the first 100 patients enrolled in its phase IIb non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) trial...

UNICEF targets over 1 million Afghan children for immunization.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) recently wrapped up a drive to immunize over 1 million youngsters in Afghanistan against the crippling polio virus. The campaign, which involved more...

WHO launches new vaccination drive along Burkina Faso-Niger border.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The United Nations health agency has started a polio immunization drive targeting hundreds of thousands of children in Niger and Burkina Faso after a youngster was reported to have contracted the...

Center links Southeast's universities and public health programs.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Leading research institutions and public health programs throughout the Southeast U.S. are joining forces in a new Southeastern Center for Emerging Biologic Threats (SECEBT). The initiating...

Britain's vaccine likely just as effective as U.S. version.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The claim that Britain's smallpox vaccine is less likely to protect people in the event of a bioterrorist attack than the U.S. version sparked a political row. But the U.S. government's top adviser on...

Israel produces vaccine in event of Iraq attack.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... 2002 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Israel has produced enough smallpox vaccine for its entire population in preparation for a possible biological weapons attack by Iraq, a health official says. But the government has not decided to...

Promising vaccine may provide long-lasting protection.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2002... 2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have developed a unique vaccine that destroys a deadly toxin produced by the parasite that causes malaria, which kills more than 2 million people each year. The vaccine appears extremely...

Maternal RSV immunization important to prevent infant infections.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2002... 2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Maternal antibodies offer the major form of protection against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants born in Mozambique. Anna Roca and...

Japan's TB revaccination program not cost-effective.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2002... 2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Revaccination of Japanese children with bacillus Calmette-Guerin to prevent tuberculosis is not cost-effective, according to an analysis published in...

Findings give hope for H. pylori vaccine.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2002... 2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The bacterium that causes stomach inflammation (gastritis), peptic ulcers and gastric cancer thrives in the human stomach by triggering changes in stomach cells and using those changes to its own...

Antibody-expressing lactobacilli capable of binding to Streptococcus mutans.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2002... 2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Lactobacilli expressing a fragment of an antibody specific for Streptococcus mutans exhibited the ability to bind S. mutans in vitro and in vivo,...

Report details dengue virus transmission patterns.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2002... 2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - The circulation patterns of dengue virus isolates and resultant outbreaks of dengue fever in Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand, have been reported in the...

Second quarter pro forma results: $0.29 per share.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2002... 2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Chiron Corporation (CHIR) reported pro forma net income from continuing operations of $56 million or $0.29 per share for the second quarter of 2002, compared with $40 million, or $0.21 per share, in...

VaxGen releases second-quarter results; development expenses met expectations.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2002... 2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- VaxGen, Inc., (VXGN) announced a net loss of $6.7 million, or 46 cents per share excluding noncash charges, for the second quarter ended June 30, 2002, compared with a net loss of $5.9 million, or 42...

Federal judge strikes down religious exemption to Arkansas vaccination law.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2002... 2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A federal judge has struck down a religious exemption to a state statute requiring vaccinations before children can attend public school. The exemption, granted only to members of "recognized...

Vaccination campaign immunizes more than 13 million children in Kenya.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2002... 2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In an effort to combat preventable deaths from measles, the Measles Initiative launched its largest mass vaccination campaign ever in Kenya, June 17-23, 2002. The Kenya campaign, the first of nine...

All Hajj pilgrims should get vaccine.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2002... 2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Seventeen percent of those returning from the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina (Hajj) are carrying meningococcal bacteria, finds a study in the British Medical Journal. As such,...

States push vaccination.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2002... 2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- It started like a mere stomach bug: John Kach felt fine one day but spent the next throwing up. By day's end the 19-year-old college freshman was in a coma - and spent almost 4 months in the hospital,...

Number of new cases in India increases.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2002... 2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The number of new polio cases in India nearly tripled in the first 6 months of this year, compared with the same period in 2001, in a setback to the world's goal of eradicating the crippling disease by...

Company withdraws vaccine from the market in Britain.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2002... 2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A company is voluntarily withdrawing its tuberculosis vaccine from the market in Britain as a precautionary measure, it said August 9, 2002. PowderJect Pharmaceuticals, PLC, said it made the move...

Vaccine that targets human chorionic gonadotropin extends colorectal cancer patient survival.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Inoculation with a vaccine that generated an antibody response against human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) increased survival of patients with...

Mumps vaccine induces remission in patients with recurrent respiratory papilloma.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Combining laser excision of recurring respiratory papilloma tumors with injection of mumps vaccine into the excision site increased remission rate of...

Vaccine effective in mice with cell-mediated immune function.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - A vaccine against the Ebola Zaire virus (EBO-Z) is effective in mice with cell-mediated immune function although its efficacy in other animals is questionable,...

Promising multistrain HIV vaccine candidate emerges.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- AIDS researchers have developed a candidate vaccine strategy that, for the first time, demonstrates an ability to elicit antibodies that block the infection of multiple HIV virus strains - an elusive...

Interventional program dramatically increases influenza vaccination rates among the elderly.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - A Swiss program to promote influenza vaccination in elderly adults more than doubled the immunization rate at a Swiss clinic. "Though influenza...

A recombinant vaccinia virus Lister shows promise as a vaccine vector.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - A defective vaccinia virus Lister strain is a safe and effective virus vector, according to investigators in Austria. "Potent and safe vaccinia...

The Immune Response Corp. announces results from Remune trial.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Indicating for the first time in a clinical trial that Remune might give relief for HIV-infected patients from the adverse side-effects of antiretroviral therapies, The Immune Response Corp. (IMNR)...

Net loss reported at CAN$0.34 per share.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Biomira, Inc., (BIOM; BRA) reported financial results for the 6 months ended June 30, 2002. Results are reported in Canadian dollars with a June 30, 2002, rate of $1.00 Canadian equaling US$0.66....

Protein Sciences announces first half results revenues increase 59%.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Protein Sciences Corp. announced for the first 6 months of 2002 revenues increased 59% to $2.2 million from $1.4 million in the first half of 2001 and the company had a net profit of $375,000 compared...

Sequence provides insights into pathogen's virulence mechanism.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists have analyzed the complete genome sequence of an emerging human pathogen, Streptococcus agalactiae (also known as group B streptococcus or "strep B"), which is a leading cause of pneumonia...

Ebola vaccine agreement expanded to include Marburg, Lassa vaccines.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Dutch antibody and vaccine company Crucell N.V. (CRXL) announced that it has expanded the Research Plan of its Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the Vaccine Research Center of the...

Flu shot benefits outweigh costs in healthy young adults.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Flu shots can save lives, especially among the elderly who account for most of the 20,000 flu-related deaths in the United States each year. But physicians have debated whether vaccinating healthy,...

Parents urged to learn about campus meningitis risk.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Five mothers have formed the "Moms on Meningitis" public awareness campaign to warn other parents about the dangers of college meningococcal meningitis - a potentially fatal disease for which some...

9.5M vaccine doses donated to Global Eradication Initiative.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Chiron Corporation (CHIR) announced that the company's vaccine business unit will donate 9.5 million doses of poliomyelitis (polio) vaccine to the polio Global Eradication Initiative during the summer...

Baxter grants $200,000 to global polio eradication initiative.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Baxter International Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Baxter International, Inc., has awarded a $200,000 grant to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which is spearheaded by the World...

Bioterror threat a focus of UMD vaccine research contract.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) has been awarded a $22 million federal research contract to develop and test a wide range of new vaccines to protect...

Twenty years of monkey research boosts AIDS knowledge.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Research on an AIDS-like disease in monkeys continues to help scientists understand problems such as how HIV causes AIDS, how the virus "hides" from the immune system and how the disease might be...

MedImmune licenses rights to newly discovered human metapneumovirus.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- MedImmune, Inc., (MEDI) announced that it has licensed exclusive worldwide rights to human metapneumovirus (hMPV) from ViroNovative, b.v., a private Dutch biotechnology company affiliated with Erasmus...

ProdiGene, NIH begin study on oral vaccine derived from transgenic corn.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- ProdiGene, Inc., announced that it will begin a phase I clinical trial in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),...

Measles, varicella, and influenza immunizations recommended for adult cancer patients.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... 2002 SEP 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Cancer patients face a high risk of morbidity and mortality from measles, influenza, and varicella and should be immunized to protect against these...

HPV virus-like particle vaccine successfully stimulates specific humoral and cellular immune responses.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - A vaccine composed of a particle designed to simulate a human papillomavirus (HPV) particle stimulated specific lymphocyte and antibody responses in...

Antibiotic-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae increasing in Belgium.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - A study done in Belgium to characterize bacteremic Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from children and elderly adults revealed significant...

Intensive vaccine reinduction extends survival for melanoma patients.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Intensive vaccine reinduction therapy for patients with recurrent malignant melanoma significantly increased survival time, according to researchers...

Antivaccination web sites spread message through emotion and unsubstantiated claims.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Searching the Internet for factual information about vaccinations may lead instead to sites that carry an antivaccination agenda or promote attitudes...

Researchers produce high yield of IgG in bird eggs.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - A standardized method was developed to produce easily-purified antivenom in chicken eggs, according to researchers in India. "The therapeutic...

VaxGen joint venture to buy 24 acres in South Korea.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- VaxGen, Inc., (VXGN) announced that its biopharmaceutical manufacturing joint venture, Celltrion, Inc., has secured the purchase of 24-acres of land in Incheon, South Korea, for the site of its major...

Viragen and University of Miami form anticancer project.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Viragen, Inc., (VRA) and the University of Miami's office of technology transfer announced that they have entered into an agreement to develop anticancer technology. The joint project is designed...

Vaccine with CTL and Th epitopes more effective against HPV-induced cervical tumors.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - A vaccine containing cytolytic and helper T-lymphocyte epitopes of the human papillomavirus (HPV) elicited a stronger immune response than did a...

Report quantifies morbidity of dengue virus infection in Thai schoolchildren.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - U.S. Armed Forces researchers have reported on morbidity arising from dengue virus infection in school children living in Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand....

Maxygen receives $2.4 million grant to develop cross protective vaccines.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Maxygen, Inc., (MAXY) announced the receipt of a $2.4 million, 3-year grant from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command to develop cross-protective vaccines against three types of...

Nabi product sales growth drives positive cash flow.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (NABI) reported net income of $0.8 million in the second quarter of 2002, or $0.02 per share, in line with external expectations. This earnings performance contributed to...

Second quarter 2002 financial results reported by gene, cell therapy technology.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Targeted Genetics Corp. (TGEN) announced that for the quarter ended June 30, 2002, it reported a net loss of $6.4 million compared with $5.9 million for the second quarter of 2001. Net loss per...

Hip or thigh yield comparable vaccine protection in immunized infants.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - A new study indicates vaccinating infants on the hip (ventrogluteal area) or on the front side of the thigh (anterolateral) with hepatitis B virus (HBV)...

New national meningitis association formed to raise awareness.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The National Meningitis Association (NMA), a new patient advocacy group, has been formed. The group was established by parents whose children have suffered or died from meningococcal meningitis, a...

Mayo Clinic vaccine researcher calls for universal flu vaccine for elderly.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Gregory Poland, MD, Mayo Clinic vaccinologist, pleads for the universal influenza vaccination of the elderly (individuals 65 and older) in an editorial entitled, "If you could halve the mortality rate,...

Hepatitis B vaccine best administered to children before end-stage liver disease.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Children with chronic renal failure can develop immunity to hepatitis B virus (HBV) after being vaccinated, but they are afforded the most protection when they...

Orlando to be among three cities to test vaccine.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. government scientists plan to test a new smallpox vaccine in Orlando, Florida and two other cities. The tests will determine what dosage protects people against the virus as a biological...

Serologicals Corp. announces multiyear agreement for vaccinia plasma.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Serologicals Corp. (SERO) has entered into a multiyear agreement with Cangene Corp. to provide hyperimmune plasma for use in the manufacturing of vaccinia immune globulin (VIg), to be used in treating...

Nucleocapsid proteins protect against hantavirus.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Nucleocapsid proteins from two hantavirus strains conferred complete protection against hantavirus challenge in voles, according to a report in the...

Plexus Vaccine, GSK Biologicals ink research agreement.(Brief Article)
September 25, 2002... 2002 SEP 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Plexus Vaccine, Inc., has signed a technology development agreement with GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals (GSK Bio) to explore novel approaches for structure-based rational vaccine design. As part of...