Hot Topics - Diseases and vaccines - Other vaccines/vaccines in the pipeline
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Diseases and vaccines - Other vaccines/vaccines in the pipeline
March 1-7, 2004
none selected this week
February 23-29, 2004
none selected this week
February 16-22, 2004
►February 19, 2004 - British Team Develops 'Black Death' Vaccine - Times, UK via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract)
►February 19, 2004 - British team develops ‘Black Death’ vaccine - The Times, UK - "BRITISH scientists have made a crucial breakthrough in the war on terrorism by developing a vaccine to counter bubonic plague, the bacteria that caused the Black Death...A vaccine for the bubonic plague, which killed millions in the Middle Ages and is now one of the deadliest bio-terrorism agents, may be available within a year as a result of a breakthrough at the Ministry of Defence’s laboratory at Porton Down.
Comment: Antibiotics are effective against the plague if given within 24 hours of the first symptoms, according to the CDC. (Although there apparently is some concern about growing resistance of the plague to antibiotics.)
February 9-15, 2004
►February 11, 2004 - Malaysian scientists in vaccine breakthrough - www.abc.net.au - "Malaysian scientists, working with French colleagues, have developed a trial vaccine for Nipah virus, a new and deadly disease...The researchers injected hamsters with the experimental vaccine, which then developed neutralising antibodies that prevented infection...Nipah produces flu-like symptoms and often leads to encephalitis and coma...The disease originally affected fruit bats but it has since jumped the species barrier, first to pigs and then to humans in Malaysia in October 1998."
January 26 - February 8, 2004 (2 weeks combined due to illness)
►February 4, 2004 - Frightful find a boon for one firm - Word that ricin, a poison, had been found in a senator's office, gives a big boost to DOR BioPharma. But one expert warns investors to be cautious. - The Miami Herald
►February 4, 2004 - DOR BioPharma, Inc. Provides Update on Ricin Vaccine Development Program - Business Wire
Comment: How about developing an antidote for ricin, to only be used by those exposed (a highly unlikely event), rather than provide a vaccine for the masses? Or is the cost thought to simply be too prohibitive, given the expected rarity of the event? In which case, isn't any potential vaccine risk not worth taking? (If the government wants to help the drug companies, how about helping them develop the antidote, rather than covering their vaccine liability?)
►January 16, 2004 - New rotavirus vaccine could be licensed this year (requires registration) - BioMedNet
January 19-25, 2004
none selected this week
January 12-18, 2004
►January 15, 2004 - Researchers try to develop platypus disease vaccine - www.abc.net.au - "A new tourist and research venture in Tasmania's north is aiming to find a vaccine for a devastating disease killing platypuses."
January 5-11, 2004
►January 6, 2004 - Vaccine Would Halt Nicotine's Pleasurable Effects - Vaccine Undergoing Human Trials - www.click2houston.com
Comment: As long as this vaccine is restricted to willing users (and actually is safe and effective), it might be an example of a reasonable product because it is targeted at people who already have (and recognize they have) a problem. Compare that to the childhood vaccines, which are forced on healthy children who may or may not (most likely will not) have a problem with the disease the vaccine is alleged to (safely) prevent.
►January 7, 2004 - Hope for leukaemia vaccine - Successful tests in mice could herald a vaccine treatment for people with a form of leukaemia. - BBC
Comment: If this vaccine is actually safe and effective, and is only given to those who have leukaemia and choose to take it, just as with the "anti-nicotine" vaccine below, it may have a meaningful role to play.
December 29, 2003 - January 4, 2004
none selected this week
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