Vaccine Market
Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari says that she needs to see proof that vaccines for a range of illnesses like meningitis and the mumps are "beneficial." And without that proof, she says, the vaccinations should end. The minister told a startled world health community that she fears that Indonesia is becoming a testing ground for drug makers. Two years ago she spurred headlines with her refusal to share bird flu virus with drug developers, saying that the virus could be used to make a biological weapon. Report
A New York man won a $22.5 million judgment after contracting polio 30 years ago while changing his daughter's diapers. He claims to have contracted the disease from the oral vaccine in her stool. Story
Saudi Arabia has added Wyeth's Prevenar to its childhood vaccination program. That's the 35th country in the world to use Prevenar. Report
Vaccine Research
A baby Indian girl enrolled in a vaccine trial died last year as the result of a supervisory mistake, say the country's regulators. And that has raised further questions about the way drug companies oversee trials in developing countries. Report
Xcellerex and three collaborators have been awarded an $11 million Phase II contract by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to develop technology for accelerated monoclonal antibody and vaccine manufacturing. Xellerence release
Advaxis has updated survival data for its Phase I trial of its live Listeria vaccine ADXS11-001(formerly named Lovaxin-C) in patients with recurrent, metastatic, carcinoma of the cervix. As of March 17, three of the 13--or 23 percent--evaluable patients in the Phase I clinical trial continue to survive beyond the historical median survival of six months or less. Advaxis release
FluGen has secured exclusive rights to a vaccine-delivery technology being commercialized by Madison, Wis.-based Ratio Inc. FluGen release
VGX Pharmaceuticals has struck a deal to design and test DNA vaccine candidates using target antigens from Plasmodium species and deliver them intradermally using the CELLECTRA constant current electroporation device. VGX release