Vaccine Research
In a new report, PhRMA says that they can count close to four hundred new vaccines and therapies in clinical development or up for FDA review that fight infectious diseases. Constantly mutating bacteria and viruses require a regular supply of new and improved vaccines and therapeutics. Story
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development (BARDA) group has extended a $5.2 million contract to PATH to develop a new type of vaccine that can sit in a government stockpile for years without losing its potency. Making long-lasting vaccines is considered essential for being able to build stockpiles in advance of a pandemic. Story
Versant Ventures and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund led a €16 million ($20.5 million) Series B round of funding for Okairos, which is developing next gen vaccines for infectious disease. Report
Vaccine Market
China's plan to inoculate 100 million of its children in a mass campaign has run straight into deep fears over the safety of the jabs. Not known for tolerating dissent, anxious parents are making their feelings known on the Internet, through cell phones and in direct questions to health officials. Report
New vaccines could save more than a million lives each year, says the Red Cross, but a multibillion-dollar funding gap has to be bridged before health officials can do anything. Story
A researcher at the University of Illinois is calling on manufacturers as well as public health officials to revise the way pediatric vaccines are stockpiled and focus on new efforts to broaden immunity levels. Report