Profectus wins $21.6M in grant money; AFFiRiS begins parkinson's vaccine development;

Vaccine Research

Profectus BioSciences has won $21.6 million in grants from the NIH to develop a preventive HIV vaccine as well as a therapeutic HIV vaccine. Release

AFFiRiS has started pre-clinical development of a Parkinson's vaccine. The vaccine, known as PD01, can be used to target a specific protein that is closely associated with the causes of this degenerative neurological disease. Release

Vical announced that results from a Phase I clinical trial of a DNA vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), conducted by the NIH and published in the November 25 issue of Vaccine, demonstrated that the vaccine was well-tolerated and induced neutralizing antibody responses in 80 percent of the people vaccinated and T-cell immune responses in all of them. Release

Vaxin won a $1.4 million grant to develop an anthrax vaccine. Report

Pharmaceutical companies and universities are racing to develop drugs that use the gene silencing mechanism known as RNA interference to treat a host of diseases. Now, researchers at the University of Georgia have demonstrated for the first time that RNA interference can be used as a tool in the development of vaccines. Report

Nobel Prize winner scientist Luc Montagnier says that a therapeutic vaccine that can rein in the spread of HIV will be developed in five years. Report

Vaccine Market

The waiting list for a new shingles vaccine from Merck is growing longer, but the company says that supply should catch up with demand early next year. Report

Any healthy individuals under the age of 50 may get all the protection they need from the flu from just half a dose. Story

Crucell announced that the SFDA released its hepatitis B vaccine Hepavax-Gene for registration and quality control in China. Report