Vaccine Market
Australia's CSL is defending itself against an FDA letter stating that it never adequately investigated its flu shots after regulators discovered dark particles on some batches. The big vaccine company said its vaccines are not contaminated. Story
The combination vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox (MMRV) is associated with double the risk of febrile seizures for 1- to 2-year-old children compared with same-day administration of the separate vaccine for MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and the varicella (V) vaccine for chicken pox, according to a Kaiser Permanente Division of Research study appearing online in the journal Pediatrics. Release
Vaccine Research
Faced with the resurgence of dengue in the U.S.--where it hasn't been seen in 65 years--and around the world, Sanofi-Aventis says that it is ramping up an "industrial scale" series of late-stage trials for a new vaccine with blockbuster potential. Story
Oncothyreon is teaming up with Immunovaccine to see if its lipid in oil-depot vaccine delivery and enhancement technology can pump up the strength of its therapeutic cancer vaccine. Report
Biotech analyst Navid Malik of the Matrix Group in London notes that Northwest Biotherapeutics therapeutic vaccine "has generated some of the most striking data on survival and delayed time to progression in both brain cancer and prostate cancer that we have seen from any product in the market or in clinical development." Report
Molecular Therapy has published a paper entitled "IL-28B/IFN-lambda3 Drives Granzyme B Loading and Significantly Increases CTL Killing Activity in Macaques" which was co-authored by researchers from Inovio and collaborators from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The paper notes that significant advances in the design, formulation and delivery of DNA plasmid-based vaccines have dramatically increased their ability to induce antigen-specific immune responses. Release
H1N1
Like many other countries, Japan found itself with a large stockpile of unused swine flu vaccine. And like them, the country's officials have managed to cancel part of their contract with Novartis. Story