“You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.”
— William Wilberforce
Story Highlights Developing a vaccine for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been an elusive quest for pharmaceutical research companies for more than 20 years, generally focusing on preventing accumulation of amyloid plaques and tau tangles, two of the most prevalent hallmarks of the disease. A highly anticipated experimental Alzheimer’s vaccine was pulled from pre-clinical testing when […]
Story Highlights On Dec. 21, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new combination hexavalent vaccine (Vaxelis) that includes antigens for six diseases to be given in three doses to infants and children between six weeks and four years of age. Manufacturers Sanofi Pasteur and Merck jointly developed Vaxelis, which combines diphtheria, […]
Story Highlights Bees and other pollinators face serious threats from disease, parasites, pesticides and habitat destruction, threatening the viability of crop farming worldwide, most well publicized by the critical danger posed to honeybees. Treatment of bee diseases has been hampered by the nature of the honeybee immune system: They do not produce targeted antibodies as […]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) still does not know what is causing the growing number of cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) in the United States, but it believes the polio-like illness is not contagious. In a recent interview with CBS, CDC director Robert Redfield, MD said, “The good news is that it […]
Story Highlights Current acne treatments such as antibiotics, birth control pills, etc., have largely proven to be ineffective. A proposed vaccine to treat acne targets toxins secreted by a specific bacteria, P.acnes, which lives on the skin and is a part of the skin’s natural mircobiome. Concerns have been raised regarding the vaccine because of […]
In an attempt to reduce use of pesticides on crops, scientists are exploring the concept of “vaccinating” food plants to prevent them from being infected with viruses and other pathogens. Experiments are utilizing an external application of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), a naturally occurring product that is found in most organisms, to make plants resistant to certain microbes.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that infants and children can be given a new typhoid conjugate vaccine when it is released in 2019. After collecting five years of follow-up observation data for seroconversion, WHO officials put forward recommendations to introduce the first typhoid conjugate vaccine for infants and children over six months of age as a single dose.
On Mar. 19, 2018, the White House announced the “President Donald J. Trump’s Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand.” The program will include “supporting research and development for a vaccine to prevent opioid addiction and non-addictive pain management options.”
Welsh scientists from Cardiff University in the United Kingdom have developed the first synthetic, non-biologic influenza vaccine, suggesting the discovery may herald a dramatic change in the way vaccines are produced and delivered. The new vaccine can be given orally in pill form and does not need to be refrigerated, both doing…
Bharat Biotech of India announced that the World Health Organization (WHO) awarded the its rotavirus vaccine, Rotavac, prequalification status. The company introduced Rotavac into India’s national immunization program in 2016. However, the prequalification designation by the WHO is necessary for United Nations…