Bioterrorism Week articles from December 2004

Bioterrorism Week archives from December 2004

Company completes first phase of ThraxVax design.
December 6, 2004... 2004 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Circle Group Holdings, Inc., (CXN) has completed the phase I design of its homeland security technology, ThraxVac, and produced a prototype model and promotional DVD for interested buyers. The DVD...

Mass value for IgG in standard anthrax reference serum assigned.
December 6, 2004... 2004 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists have assigned the mass values for total and subclass immunoglobulin G in a human standard anthrax reference serum. According to recent research published in the journal Clinical and...

U.S. HHS buys new anthrax vaccine for stockpile.
December 6, 2004... 2004 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced that HHS has awarded a contract for $877.5 million to VaxGen, Inc., to manufacture and deliver 75 million doses...

Hach now testing drinking-water monitoring technology.
December 6, 2004... 2004 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Hach Co., a water- and wastewater-instrumentation manufacturer, announced that its homeland security technology unit is in the final stages of testing a new technology designed to detect terrorist...

Diagnostics company, Vanderbilt combine fluorescence reader, lab-on-chip assays.
December 6, 2004... 2004 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pria Diagnostics and Vanderbilt University announced a collaboration to combine Pria's miniaturized fluorescence reader with Vanderbilt's lab-on-chip diagnostic assays. The collaboration is focused...

Global health alert network now scans for disease reports in seven languages.
December 6, 2004... 2004 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A global system designed to spot bioterrorist attacks or new disease outbreaks became even more global November 17, 2004; it now gathers information in six more languages. The Global Health...

Genetic analysis company reports 190% increase in product sales in Q3.
December 6, 2004... 2004 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cepheid (CPHD) announced financial results for the quarter and 9 months ended September 30, 2004. Product sales for the quarter ended September 30, 2004 increased 190% to approximately $13.4...

Immune-focused company announces Q3 net loss of $4M.
December 6, 2004... 2004 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Dynavax Technologies Corp. (DVAX) reported financial results for the third quarter 2004. Dynavax reported a net loss of $4.0 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2004, or $0.16 share,...

Haig takes over from father as chairman of the board.
December 6, 2004... 2004 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The board of directors of DOR BioPharma, Inc., (DOR) announced that Alexander P. Haig will replace his father, General (Ret.) Alexander M. Haig, Jr., as chairman of the board of DOR. Haig will...

Despite setbacks, strong growth seen in $7 billion vaccine market.
December 6, 2004... 2004 DEC 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The worldwide market for preventive vaccines will total nearly $7 billion in 2004 despite the widely reported supply interruptions of flu vaccine in the United States, according to a new study from...

Drug demonstrates survival benefits when given after anthrax exposure.
December 13, 2004... 2004 DEC 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Elusys Therapeutics, Inc., presented postexposure data for the first time showing, according to the company, that Anthim, the company's antibody treatment for anthrax toxin, improves survival when...

Airplane measles exposure offers lessons on disease contact response.
December 13, 2004... 2004 DEC 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An incidence of measles exposure on an airplane has implications for responding to new disease threats and bioterrorism. According to a study from the United States, "On May 21, 2000, a passenger...

Respiratory protection against bioaerosols reviewed.
December 13, 2004... 2004 DEC 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists review respiratory protection against bioaerosols in a recent issue of the American Journal of Infection Control. "Research on respiratory protection against biologic agents is...

Rapid detection method for vaccinia virus developed.
December 13, 2004... 2004 DEC 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists have developed a rapid detection method for vaccinia virus, the surrogate for smallpox virus. "Prior to the World Health Organization's announcement of total eradication in 1977,...

Time to develop new antidotes for chemical attacks.
December 13, 2004... 2004 DEC 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New antidotes for organophosphates are needed to prepare for chemical attacks in the West and to tackle pesticide poisoning in developing countries, argue researchers from Canberra Hospital, Australia....

Computer program developing to track disease, biological attacks.
December 13, 2004... 2004 DEC 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A computer at RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, is running an $18.8 million "war game" designed to help world health officials battle the next major flu pandemic or bioterror...

Immunology experts move forward on worldwide research database.
December 13, 2004... 2004 DEC 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Medical research experts, meeting in San Diego recently, took an important step forward in the coordination of worldwide and national research data on emerging infectious diseases and pathogens of...

Computer modeling helps identify new smallpox drug candidate.
December 13, 2004... 2004 DEC 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Using bioinformatics and computer modeling, researchers from North Carolina and Oregon have identified a new class of compounds that block a key step in the lifecycle of the smallpox virus and have...

TraceDetect SafeGuard displays arsenic content in 20 minutes.
December 13, 2004... 2004 DEC 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- TraceDetect announced SafeGuard, an automated trace metals analyzer that simplifies the measurement of arsenic and other metals in water. The new analyzer will measure total arsenic down to 2 parts...

Human immune response to U.K. anthrax vaccine characterized.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists have characterized the human immune response to the U.K. anthrax vaccine. "The anthrax bipartite lethal toxin [protective antigen (PA) and lethal factor (LF)]-specific antibody responses...

Syndromic surveillance rapidly detects infectious disease outbreaks.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Syndromic surveillance rapidly detects infectious disease outbreaks. "Conventional disease surveillance mechanisms that rely on passive reporting may be too slow and insensitive to rapidly detect a...

UT Southwestern initiating trials in humans for ricin vaccine.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A potential vaccine for the deadly toxin ricin, a "Category B" biological agent, will enter the first phase of clinical testing in coming weeks at University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center...

Papular spongiotic dermatitis of smallpox vaccination reported.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers report cases of papular spongiotic dermatitis of smallpox vaccination in a recent issue of the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. "We report two cases of nonspecific...

Position statement on donor suitability after smallpox vaccination released.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology has released a position statement on donor suitability of recipients of smallpox vaccine in a recent issue of Fertility and Sterility. "Although...

Vaccination with anthrax capsule protects against infection in animals.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Vaccination with the anthrax capsule, a naturally occurring component of the bacterium that causes the disease, protected mice from lethal anthrax infection, according to scientists at the U.S. Army...

Iowa hospital takes part in radioactive contamination drill.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Volunteers took part in a drill at a hospital here that simulated a radioactive contamination event. Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were on hand for the drill at Genesis...

Pharma company releases third quarter 2004 results.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Acambis plc (LSE: ACM, NASDAQ: ACAM) announced its results for the 3 and 9 months ended 30 September 2004. Following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) decision to lift the clinical...

DNA identity labs awarded $1.9 million for National Missing Persons Initiatives.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The United States Justice Department announced the funding of 5 grants totaling more than $1.9 million to the DNA Identity Laboratory at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort...

Biopharm company enters agreement to raise $40 million through common stock sale.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- VaxGen, Inc. (VXGN) has entered into individual purchase agreements for the sale of approximately 3 million shares of its common stock at $13.25 per share through a direct offering of unregistered...

Maker of orBec reports Q3 net loss of $1,406,411.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- DOR BioPharma, Inc., (DOR) a biopharmaceutical company focused on biodefense and therapeutics for unmet medical needs, announced its results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2004. The...

U.S. approach to outbreak detection uses five interacting health care systems.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. approach to outbreak detection uses five interacting health care systems. "To learn how outbreaks of infectious disease are detected and to describe the entities and information systems...

Foundation names members to board of directors.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Markle Foundation announced that Lewis B. Kaden, a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell, was elected chairman of the Markle Foundation board of directors and that Stanley Shuman, managing director of...

Agreement signed for Calcium-DTPA and Zinc-DTPA.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Akorn, Inc., (AKRN.OB) and Hameln Pharmaceuticals gmbh (Hameln), a private German pharmaceuticals company, announced the signing of the exclusive license and supply agreement for two orphan drug new...

Texas researchers to begin testing vaccine against ricin in humans.
December 20, 2004... 2004 DEC 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. researchers will begin clinical trials of a candidate vaccine against the deadly toxin ricin, a biological agent that can only be tested in select labs. University of Texas Southwestern...

FDA tests effects of anthrax sterilization methods.
December 27, 2004... 2004 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- After the anthrax scare in Washington, DC, in 2001, questions arose regarding damage to various items after sterilization. To find the answers, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) researchers...

Anti-rPA IgG ELISA for measuring antibody response in mice evaluated.
December 27, 2004... 2004 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have evaluated an anti-rPA IgG ELISA for measuring the antibody response in mice. According to a study from the United States, "A recombinant protective antigen (rPA)-based...

Disability among U.S. army personnel vaccinated against anthrax reviewed.
December 27, 2004... 2004 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers review disability among U.S. army personnel vaccinated against anthrax in a recent issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. According to a study from the United...

William E. Hoehn, Jr. appointed to Bioterrorism Preparedness Advisory Board.
December 27, 2004... 2004 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- ImmuneRegen BioScience (IRBO) announced that William E. Hoehn, Jr., PhD, is the first appointment to its newly established Bioterrorism Preparedness Advisory Board. The U.S. Food and Drug...

RiVax to enter human clinical trials.
December 27, 2004... 2004 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- DOR BioPharma, Inc., (DOR) announced that its academic partner, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Texas (UT Southwestern), plans to proceed with the first phase of human...

The benefit/risk ratio for anti-TNF-alpha agents has been favorable.
December 27, 2004... 2004 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A recent report provided an overview of the benefits and risks of biological agents. According to the report from the United States, "Targeted tumor necrosis factor-alpha antagonists, first...

Wyoming case could lead to lab changes.
December 27, 2004... 2004 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A false case of brucellosis in Campbell County, Wyoming, could lead to a review of how laboratories nationwide handle tests for the cattle disease in the future, a veterinary official says. "I'm...

Circle Group Holdings taps Sitrick and Co. for PR.
December 27, 2004... 2004 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Circle Group Holdings (CXN), a pioneer of emerging technologies that has already developed one product focused on the food industry, and another focused on homeland security, announced the appointment...