Medicago ponders new vaccine plant; police win vaccine security grant; DynPort and Quintiles win $32M contract

Vaccine Market

Canada's Medicago is considering a new joint venture to build a bird flu vaccine plant in France. Report

Biologists in South Dakota are immunizing ferrets against an outbreak of sylvatic plague. Story

Police in Lansing, MI are in line for a grant of close to $1 million to fund a protection program for Emergent BioSolutions' anthrax vaccine facility. Story

Australian health officials are reporting a rising number of cases of measles and add that children should be vaccinated against the threat. Report

The Global Alliance for Vaccine Immunization is providing $60 million of Rotavrius vaccines to Pakistan. Report

Vaccine research

DynPort and Quintiles have won a $32 million federal contract for a Phase I trial of infectious disease therapies. Report

Inovio announced that preclinical studies for two plasmid DNA-based universal influenza vaccine candidates using the company's technology demonstrated that 100 percent of the immunized mice given a lethal challenge of highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus (A/Vietnam/1203/04) survived and showed only minor weight loss. Release

Norwood Immunology says it has inked a six-month evaluation pact with MedImmune for its virosomal vaccine technology. Report

AFFiRiS GmbH has now recruited the 24 Alzheimer patients planned for the Phase I trial of AFF001. Release