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Friday, July 31, 2009
Mosquitoes used to deliver malaria ‘vaccine’
In a daring experiment in Europe, scientists used mosquitoes to deliver a "vaccine" of live malaria parasites through their bites to their victims.
The results were astounding: Everyone in the vaccine group acquired immunity to malaria; everyone in a non-vaccinated comparison group did not and developed malaria when exposed to the parasites later.
While using mosquitoes as vaccinators is impractical, the use of the live malaria parasites may be key to developing an effective traditionally-dispensed vaccine. One of the Study’s researchers, Dr. Robert Sauerwein, cautioned: "This is not a vaccine" as in a commercial product, but a way to show how whole parasites can be used like a vaccine to protect against disease”
The Study published in the New England Journal of Medicine capitalized on the facts that people can develop immunity to malaria if exposed to it many times and the drug chloroquine can kill parasites in the final bloodstream phase, when they are most dangerous.
The Study’s subjects where given chloroquine to protect them while they were gradually exposed to malaria parasites. Through this process, the subjects developed immunity.
Sanaria Inc. is in the process of testing a vaccine that uses live parasites.
New ways to prevent or treat malaria are needed because there is a growing resistance to artemisnin and chloroquine in areas heavily plagued by malaria outbreaks.
Malaria kills nearly a million people each year, mostly children under 5. The disease is spread mostly through mosquito bites.
For more information please see: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/361/5/468.
Labels: africa, artemisnin, chloroquine, Malaria, mosquito, vaccine
posted by
Jessica
at
6:42 AM
Monday, June 29, 2009
CDC to Reinstate Booster Shots for Babies and Toddlers
The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today that it plans to reinstate booster shots of the vaccine HiB (Haemphilus influenza type b) for babies and toddlers ages 12 to 15 months. The vaccine protects against bacterial meningitis.
In 2007 Merck & Company Inc. recalled its HiB vaccines due to the fact that some of the production equipment used was not properly sterilized. The CDC said that the HiB vaccine made by Sanofi Pasteur will increase enough to allow reinstatement of the HiB booster in July. However, due to the short supply of the vaccine there will not be a mass recall to administer the vaccine to older children who missed their booster, stated the CDC.
Before the introduction of the vaccine in the early 1990s, about 20,000 U.S. children would come down with illnesses caused by HiB bacteria a year. Vaccination has cut that by 99 percent, according to the CDC.
For more information see: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE55O3QZ20090625
In 2007 Merck & Company Inc. recalled its HiB vaccines due to the fact that some of the production equipment used was not properly sterilized. The CDC said that the HiB vaccine made by Sanofi Pasteur will increase enough to allow reinstatement of the HiB booster in July. However, due to the short supply of the vaccine there will not be a mass recall to administer the vaccine to older children who missed their booster, stated the CDC.
Before the introduction of the vaccine in the early 1990s, about 20,000 U.S. children would come down with illnesses caused by HiB bacteria a year. Vaccination has cut that by 99 percent, according to the CDC.
For more information see: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE55O3QZ20090625
Labels: bacterial meningitis, booster shots, children, HiB, vaccine
posted by
Chavon Williams
at
11:02 AM
Friday, June 5, 2009
Rotavirus Caused Death- Vaccine Urged for Children
The World Health Organization recommended that all children receive a vaccination against the rotavirus. Rotavirus is a leading cause of diarrhea which kills more than 500,000 children worldwide each year. The virus includes vomiting and diarrhea, in infants and young children, and is highly contagious. An estimated 1,600 children under the age of 5 are killed by this infection, every day, with more than 85 percent of the deaths occurring in Africa and Asia.
Dr. Paul, Offit, chief of infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and co- inventor of one of the rotavirus vaccines manufactured by Merck & Company, said “by immunizing half the children in the United States the incidents of disease will be reduced by 80 to 90 percent”.
The first vaccine developed to fight rotavirus, sold by Wyeth, was pulled from the market in 1999 after it was linked to a life-threatening type of bowel obstruction, known as intussusception. According to Merck and Company their vaccine called Rotarix, does not have this problem. Merck and Company conducted a study of more than 63,000 infants. In that study, there were no increased risks of intussusception in those who received Rotarix compared to those who received placebo. The FDA has approved the vaccine and it is currently being used to immunize children. However, the FDA has requested that the manufacturer conduct post- marketing safety studies involving more than 40,000 infants to provide additional safety information.
For more information see: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/2008/ucm116875.htm
Dr. Paul, Offit, chief of infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and co- inventor of one of the rotavirus vaccines manufactured by Merck & Company, said “by immunizing half the children in the United States the incidents of disease will be reduced by 80 to 90 percent”.
The first vaccine developed to fight rotavirus, sold by Wyeth, was pulled from the market in 1999 after it was linked to a life-threatening type of bowel obstruction, known as intussusception. According to Merck and Company their vaccine called Rotarix, does not have this problem. Merck and Company conducted a study of more than 63,000 infants. In that study, there were no increased risks of intussusception in those who received Rotarix compared to those who received placebo. The FDA has approved the vaccine and it is currently being used to immunize children. However, the FDA has requested that the manufacturer conduct post- marketing safety studies involving more than 40,000 infants to provide additional safety information.
For more information see: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/2008/ucm116875.htm
Labels: children, david carradine; rotavirus, diarrhea, infectious diseases, vaccine
posted by
Chavon Williams
at
8:38 AM