HHS: U.S. needs $200M biodefense fund

A new report issued by the Department of Health and Human Services calls for the formation of a $200 million bioterrorism and pandemic defense fund. Separately, and expert panel commissioned by President Obama recommended that the U.S. spend $1 billion a year modernizing its vaccine manufacturing capabilities. The recommendations come after the H1N1 virus claimed 13,000 American lives. Both reports suggest the U.S. should move away from the slow egg-based vaccine manufacturing method to...

Vaccine sales up 16% in 2009

Vaccine sales hit $22.1 billion in 2009, up a healthy 16 percent from 2008. And forecasts predict that sales will continue to rise annually at a rate of 9.7 percent for the next five years. Wider adoption of currently available vaccines and the introduction of new products could push annual sales as high as $35 billion by 2015....

Antigenics shares buoyed by early data on genital herpes vax

Shares of Antigenics (AGEN) got some much-needed help after the developer reported that its vaccine/adjuvant combo to guard against genital herpes looked promising in a small, early-stage trial. The Lexington, MA-based biotech recruited 35 patients for the Phase I study, dividing them into four different groups. One group got the vaccine AG-707 and Antigenics' adjuvant with the other three groups getting either the vaccine alone, the adjuvant alone or a placebo. The biotech noted that all seven...

Merck buys vax unit from bankrupt Hawaii Biotech

Merck (NYSE: MRK) has agreed to purchase bankrupt Hawaii Biotech's dengue fever vaccine unit for an undisclosed sum. It's a critical move for Hawaii, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year and will deplete a $2 million credit line by the end of this month. The sale leaves Hawaii with a West Nile virus vaccine in development. Hawaii CEO Elliot Parks says Merck's interest in the dengue unit validates the work his company has done on the program. "We're very proud to...

Australia’s Coridon attracts billionaire investment

Andrew Forrest, billionaire CEO of the Australian mining company Fortescue Metals, has invested AU$3 million in the Ian Frazer-backed biotech company Coridon, which is developing DNA vaccines for a range of diseases. Frazer, who chairs Coridon, earned acclaim for his work on the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil. Forrest's medical device company Allied Medical has raised more than AU$4 million and made the AU$3 million investment in exchange for a 38.6 percent stake in...

Brain cancer vax looks promising in small trial

A small Phase I trial of an experimental dendritic cell based brain cancer vaccine advanced by ImmunoCellular Therapeutics (IMUC) has produced some unusually positive results. Only 16 patients suffering from glioblastoma multiforme--the most common of all brain cancers - were recruited for the study. But researchers report that 18 months after treatment began, almost half of the patients were still alive without any worsening of their disease. The 12-month disease-free survival from the time of...

Venter: Synthetic cells will revolutionize vax development

J. Craig Venter told lawmakers yesterday that the ability to create synthetic genes could revolutionize the development of new vaccines. Using the new technology that he's been pioneering, Venter says that flu vaccine candidates could be constructed within 24 hours of an outbreak. Researchers now require about three months to do the work. Synthetic cells provide researchers with the "software of life," Venter told Congress....

First human trial on melanoma vax ‘cure’

A group of researchers at Nottingham University in the U.K. are planning to launch a human trial of a new vaccine for metastatic melanoma. Lead researcher Professor Lindy Durrant says that the vaccine contains DNA and tumor fragments so that it will activate only specific immune cells rather than the entire immune system....

Seattle BioMed initiates malaria vax trial

Seattle Biomedical Research Institute said it has officially started the first human clinical trial of its malaria vaccine candidate. The trial will assess the safety of a genetically engineered version of the malaria parasite....

GSK under fire for vax delay

GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) made a splash when it announced recently that it would supply 30 million doses of vaccine each year to protect children in developing nations. However, the Guardian has revealed that when GSK made the commitment it was already under orders from the World Health Organization to do additional testing on its vaccine, Synflorix. GSK planned to deliver it in vials that contain two doses. A provider uses a needle to draw half the vaccine for one person and then uses...