White House Backs Development of Heroin Vaccine
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.”
Synthetic Flu Vaccine Created As a Pill
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…
India’s Rotavirus Vaccine Receives WHO Prequalification
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…
New Typhoid Fever Vaccine Prequalified by WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) has prequalified the first conjugate vaccine for typhoid fever. The new typhoid fever vaccine, Typbar-TCV, is produced by Bharat Biotech International of Hyderabad, India. Prequalification means that the vaccine meets the WHO’s “acceptable standards of quality, safety and efficacy” and will now be available to be purchased by…
Vaccine Industry Targets Type 1 Diabetes
Glucose—the natural sugar generated from the foods we eat— is our energy source for all cell functions. The cells, however, cannot directly access the glucose on their own. In the normal course of events, glucose crosses from the blood stream to the cells with help from a hormone…
A Polio Vaccine Made from Tobacco Leaves?
Seeking an alternative to using live poliovirus to create the polio vaccine, scientists are infecting a relative of the tobacco plant with a virus “containing the genetic material of polio” to manufacture a new polio vaccine from the modified plant leaves. If the experimental technique is considered successful once the vaccines have been tested in…