Category: Vaccine

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot, who has been critical of the U.K.s business environment for the life sciences industry, is directing a big chunk of money into the Big Pharmas home country.

AZ plans to invest 650 million ($827 million) in the U.K., Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced Wednesday.

The money will be divided into two tranches. About 450 million will go to AZs manufacturing site in Speke, Liverpool, to build out the companys R&D and manufacturing capabilities for vaccines.

The remaining 200 million will be used to expand AZs presence near its global headquarters in Cambridge. The plan includes a facility that will house around 1,000 employees.

AZs spending is contingent upon a mutual agreementwith the U.K. government and undisclosed"third parties," as well as the clearance of regulatory hurdles, according toWednesdays press release.

AstraZenecas planned investment would enhance the U.K.s pandemic preparedness and demonstrates our ongoing confidence in U.K. life sciences, Soriot said in a statement.

The investment will help the Liverpool siterespond to the threat of future pandemics and meet the growing demand for vaccines, an AZ spokesperson told Fierce Pharma. The exact vaccines to be made there will be determined as the companys pipeline progresses, the spokesperson added.

As for the Cambridge site, the facility was already included in development plans for AZs newly opened innovation center. The site will primarily support commercial and regular business operations, the spokesperson said.

AZs refreshed commitment to the U.K. comes about a year after Soriot blamed the countrys discouraging tax rate for his companys decision to build a $400 million active pharmaceutical ingredient facility in Ireland at the Alexion campus in Dublin.

Were very committed [to the U.K.], but we need to see also supporting policies for the whole industry, Soriot said at the time.

In his statement Wednesday, U.K. Chancellor Hunt touted the U.K. as one of the most competitive business tax regimes of any major economy.

AstraZenecas investment plans are a vote of confidence in the attractiveness of U.K. as a life sciences superpower and strengthen our resilience for future health emergencies, Hunt added.

Late last year, amid tensions between the industry and government, U.K. officials and industry representativesreached an accord on a voluntary drug rebate scheme. Soon after, though, theAssociation of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) lashed outat a separate statutory scheme thats designed to control drug costs.

At that time, the ABPI said the rebate levels included in the statutory program have damaged the U.K.s international standing with global life science companies."

Nevertheless, the U.K. remains AZs home base. The drugmaker last year opened its flagship 1 billionR&D site in Cambridge, Soriot noted during a press briefing in February. The chief executive also pointed to the work the British government has done to facilitate clinical trials, as well as tax policies that are helping incentivize companies to invest.

Theres still more to do, but the U.K. is moving in the right direction toward offering a better environment for the life sciences field, he said.

In addition to Liverpool, AZ will also open a new manufacturing facility to make a cancer drug at its Macclesfield manufacturing and development campus later this year as part of a 380 millioninvestment, according to the U.K. government.

For a global company like AZ, manufacturing investments are certainly bound to be scattered in different parts of the world. Last month, AZ announced it will plow $300 million into a new facility in Rockville, Maryland, for its cell therapy programs.

At the same time, the firm is investing in a facility in the Chinese city of Qingdao to manufacture inhaled medicines.

We continue to invest in manufacturing around the world, and each time we look at, what is the environment, Soriot said during the February press conference.

More often its more general environment in terms of, is the ecosystem attractive for investment in innovation? Soriot explained. Is it a country where there is clearly an understanding that incentives have to be created through appropriate tax policies, but also importantly, access to innovation?

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AstraZeneca pledges 650M in UK investments to boost vaccine capabilities, expand near HQ - FiercePharma

A 62-year-old man who claims to have received 217 COVID-19 vaccinations shows no signs of adverse events linked to the shots and appears to have stronger immunity against the virus than others, researchers said as they cautioning others to not get more than the recommended vaccinations.

In a study published Monday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, researchers in Germany said they were surprised by the findings, expecting the mans immune cells to be less effective after becoming used to the antigens administered through eight different vaccines.

Over all, we did not find any indication for a weaker immune response, rather the contrary, Katharina Kocher, one of the leading authors of the study, said in a news release.

Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universitt Erlangen-Nrnberg (FAU) and Universittsklinikum Erlangen in Germany said they reached out to the man, who is not identified in the study, after seeing his unusual story in newspaper reports.

According to the study, a public prosecutor had collected evidence to officially support 130 of his claimed 217 vaccinations while investigating him for possible fraud. No criminal charges were filed against him.

The researchers invited the man, who said the shots took place over 29 months, to undergo various testing, and he was very, very interested in doing so, said Dr. Kilian Schober from FAUs Institute of Microbiology.

As part of the study, the man, who said he received the multiple shots for private reasons, permitted researchers to study various blood tests that he had undergone in recent years, including samples that had been frozen. They also took samples of blood from him after he received yet another vaccination dose, which was done at his own insistence, Schober said.

We were able to use these samples to determine exactly how the immune system reacts to the vaccination, Schober said.

The study ultimately found no change to the effectiveness of the mans immune system in fighting other pathogens. The man also did not have any noticeable side effects from the vaccinations and showed considerably higher concentrations of certain immune cells and antibodies that fight SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, than people who have only received three vaccinations.

Story continues

While we found no signs of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections in [the man] to date, it cannot be clarified whether this is causally related to the hypervaccination regimen. Importantly, we do not endorse hypervaccination as a strategy to enhance adaptive immunity, the study concludes.

Last month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, advising adults 65 and older to receive an additional, updated vaccine dose. People who are immunocompromised had already been eligible for the additional dose.

Data continues to show the importance of vaccination to protect those most at risk for severe outcomes of COVID-19, the CDC said. An additional dose of the updated COVID-19 vaccine may restore protection that has waned since a fall vaccine dose, providing increased protection to adults ages 65 years and older.

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Scientists Studied Man Who Claimed To Have Had 217 COVID Shots. Here's What They Found. - Yahoo News Australia

Further progress has been recorded in the fight against AIDS. GSK reported that it had completed its phase one trial of a new drug to prevent HIV infection, which will be given as part of the PrEP protocol, and may replace the need to take pills on a daily basis.

About 9,000 HIV carriers live in Israel. Every year, around 450 new infected people are registered on the list. PrEP treatments, which have been in use both in Israel and abroad for over a decade, have significantly reduced the rate of HIV infection, especially among members of the LGBTQ+ community.

These are pills that contain antiviral drugs that prevent the replication of AIDS and that must be taken daily. However, some users do not take the pills on a regular basis, which results in the virus developing.

Approximately two years ago, the first injection to prevent the HIV infection was approved in countries including Israel. It is given once a month. Last year, the Health Ministry approved a new injection that is administered once every two months. Now the pharmaceutical company GSK announced the results of a new injection, which prevents infection with the virus, and will be taken only once in every four months.

A phase one clinical study of the new injection showed that it is safe and has a "half-life." That is, the length of time it survives in the body is four months, as expected. The company estimates that they will finish the two additional phases of the clinical trials within a year or so, and that if results continue to be positive, the vaccine can be marketed in 2026.

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PrEP no more: Will there be a vaccine for HIV/AIDS? - The Jerusalem Post

CHARLESTON, W.Va. West Virginia's GOP-controlled state Legislature voted Saturday to allow some students who don't attend traditional public schools to be exempt from state vaccination requirements that have long been held up as among the most strict in the country.

The bill was approved despite the objections of Republican Senate Health and Human Resources Chair Mike Maroney, a trained doctor, who called the bill an embarrassment and said he believed lawmakers were harming the state.

I took an oath to do no harm. There's zero chance I can vote for this bill, Maroney said before the bill passed the Senate 18-12. The House already approved a version of the bill in February and swiftly approved the Senate bill on Saturday, the last day of the state's 60-day legislative session.

Its a bad bill for West Virginia, its a step backward. Theres no question, no question there will be negative effects," Maroney said. He added, Its an embarrassment for me to be a part of it, it should be an embarrassment to everybody.

West Virginia, with some of the lowest life expectancy rates in the U.S. and a quarter of all children living in poverty, is one of only two states, along with California, that don't permit nonmedical exemptions to vaccinations as a condition for school entry.

Mississippi had the same policy until July, when a judge allowed people to start citing religious beliefs to seek exemptions from state-mandated vaccinations that children must receive before attending day care or school.

The new proposed vaccine law in West Virginia, which now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Jim Justice, allows virtual public school students to be exempt and for private and parochial schools to institute their own policies either exempting students or not.

All students participating in West Virginia school activities that result in competition, including but not limited to sports, still need to be vaccinated.

The bill stipulates parents cant sue private schools and school owners, administrators, boards and staffers for deciding whether to allow exemptions or not, as long as the school provides families with a notice for parents to sign acknowledging the policy annually and upon enrollment.

I personally do not urge passage, but your health committee urged passage of this bill, Maroney said before introducing the bill in the Senate.

The bills original intent, as introduced in the state House of Delegates, was to eliminate vaccine requirements for students in public virtual schools. It was expanded in a House committee to allow private schools to set their own vaccination standards, unless a student participates in sanctioned athletics.

The bill also created a religious exemption for any child whose parents or guardians present a letter stating the child cannot be vaccinated for religious reasons. That was taken out in the Senate.

During the Senate Health Committee meeting earlier this week, West Virginia University School of Medicine Professor Dr. Alvin Moss argued for the bill, saying the state's current compulsory vaccination policy is medically unethical because it doesnt allow informed consent.

The number of parents who don't want their children to receive vaccinations is growing, Moss said.

In 2017, the anti-vaccine requirement group West Virginians for Health Freedom had 300 families included in his members. That number has grown to at least 3,000 members in 2024, Moss said.

Former West Virginia Republican Delegate Chanda Adkins, a group member, said during the meeting that religious families who don't want to vaccinate their children deserve to be able to live their convictions.

Former West Virginia Medical Association Dr. Lisa Costello disagreed, saying West Virginias current vaccine policy is the "gold standard" across the nation.

West Virginia is seen as a national leader when it comes to our routine, child immunizations," she said, later adding, Measles does not care if you go to private school or public school. Measles does not differentiate depending on where you go to school."

West Virginia law requires children to receive vaccines for chickenpox, hepatitis-b, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough, unless they receive a medical exemption. West Virginia does not require COVID-19 vaccinations.

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West Virginia Lawmakers OK Bill Drawing Back Child Vax Laws - TIME

(Precision Vaccinations News)

Recently, the Republic of Indonesia generously donated 10 million polio vaccine doses to Afghanistan.This initiative is a significant step towards eradicating the disease and ensuring the health and well-being of the Afghan people.

Afghanistan is affected by ongoing endemic wild poliovirus transmission. In 2023, there were six cases confirmed.

According to the government's news agency, on March 8, 2024,Bio Farma, an Indonesian pharmaceutical company, manufactured these oral polio vaccines.

UNICEF is collaborating with Afghan officials to facilitate the transportation and distribution of the vaccines.

Bio Farma produces thenOPV2 vaccine, which hasbeen administered in more than 35countries.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative reported on March 8, 2024, that at the Bost hospital, like every maternity facility in Afghanistan, babies are vaccinated in their first few hours of life.

In any 24 hours, the UNICEF-backed female vaccinators vaccinate dozens of babies in this hospital alone.

Some women are medically trained to administer intravenous vaccinations, and others are known as female mobilizer vaccinators (FMVs). They are not just vaccinators, but FMV are also the first-line advocates for polio eradication.

They are a familiar face to the local community who provides sound advice and information for good health of their children and family members.

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10 Million Polio Vaccines Heading to Afghanistan Precision Vaccinations News - Precision Vaccinations

Syrian medics launched a vaccination campaign in the northwestern Idlib province in early 2023. Such campaigns depend on the global cholera vaccine stockpile, which is currently empty. Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Syrian medics launched a vaccination campaign in the northwestern Idlib province in early 2023. Such campaigns depend on the global cholera vaccine stockpile, which is currently empty.

The ancient disease of cholera is making a comeback in 2024 but the world's supply of vaccines can't keep up.

The global stockpile of cholera vaccines is empty. There are no doses in reserve. And while the vaccine manufacturer is churning out 700,000 doses a week, all those vials are going directly to active outbreaks.

"The demand is four times more than the supply," said Daniela Garone, the international medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders. "And we don't have enough vaccines to use for the preventive programs."

This couldn't come at a worse time, experts say.

After a long period of global progress against cholera, the number of outbreaks has shot up since 2021. There are currently 17 countries reporting cases, and preliminary data from last year suggest there were over 700,000 cases of cholera and more than 4,000 deaths. Philippe Barboza, team lead of the cholera program at the World Health Organization, said the figures are likely a gross undercount and he's witnessed an "exponential increase" in cases.

With cholera cases climbing, global health organizations saw the vaccine shortfall coming. In the past few years, they have tried several strategies to stretch the current vaccine supply and ramp up production of more doses. But the challenge, Garone said, is to break free from "a vicious cycle" where active outbreaks gobble up all the vaccines and there aren't enough doses for prevention campaigns or to rebuild the reserves.

"Even though we're still running into the headwind, some days we actually end up steps backwards, not steps forward," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "Cholera really represents a perfect storm from a public health standpoint."

In 2013, after watching a successful vaccination campaign help contain an active outbreak in Haiti, the World Health Organization teamed up with other public health groups to create a global cholera vaccine stockpile. Since outbreaks are unpredictable and cholera vaccines take a while to make, the plan was to ensure doses were available whenever they were needed.

For years, the stockpile grew, from roughly 2 million doses in 2013 to about 40 million a decade later.

The vials are stored in huge walk-in refrigerators in an unremarkable warehouse outside of Seoul, South Korea, near the factory where the vaccines are produced. But, lately, given the high demand, freshly made doses don't linger in those refrigerators long.

"As soon as they're on the shelf, they're in a box and on an airplane going somewhere," said Allyson Russell, the acting senior project manager for outbreaks and global health security at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The international group helps fund and facilitate the stockpile.

Gavi, among others, has taken steps to address the vaccine shortage.

In October 2022, the international group managing the stockpile recommended giving just one dose of the vaccine instead of the usual two doses. The protection doesn't last quite as long, but "it basically allows you to vaccinate twice as many people," said Russell.

At the same time, scientists set to work crafting a quicker, cheaper way to make the vaccine. Typically, the vaccine is made by growing five different strains of cholera bacteria, then killing them and finally mixing them together into the vaccine. But, it turns out, all five strains are not necessary, says Russell.

"There are two strains that are very critical. And so the simplified version we have seen in clinical trials to be just as efficacious as the five-strain version," she said, adding that she hopes this new formulation will start being made in the coming months.

But those measures may not be enough to replenish the supply.

There are a few big reasons why the stockpile has run dry.

First, the demand is greater than ever.

"We've never seen something like this," said Livia Tampellini, the medical deputy for Doctors Without Borders' emergency team, who recently returned from helping Zambia with its cholera outbreak. "We cannot support everybody. That is, for sure, impossible."

There are all the usual culprits, including the lack of access to sewage systems and clean drinking water in certain parts of the Global South. Conflict and migration also give cholera the chance to spread. And climate change looms larger each year.

"Many of these very large outbreaks were triggered by a massive...climatic event [such as] a drought or cyclones," said the WHO's Barboza.

Those disasters can easily lead to drinking water being contaminated by human waste as sanitation systems are overwhelmed.

Another factor driving up demand has been a decrease in stigma over the past few years, says Russell of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

"Countries are more willing to report that they have cholera cases, to declare cholera outbreaks," she said, noting this has been seen both in how many cases they report and how many doses they request.

Between January 2023 and January 2024, 76 million vaccines were requested by 14 countries. That's far more doses than available and more than have been requested in the past.

Vaccine supply has proved challenging, with only one company EuBiologics in South Korea making the global cholera vaccine.

The lack of additional manufacturers is "a good indicator of the lack of interest, investment, commitment to control cholera," said Barboza.

There are companies in India and South Africa slated to start producing the vaccine in the coming years. However, he said, "this is taking time, especially for a vaccine which is cheap, which is only focused on the most poor part of the population in the poorest countries in the world. So, it does not attract big manufacturers."

The vaccine typically sells for about $1.50 a dose, leaving thin profit margins for the vaccine maker. Another deterrent is the fact that the cholera vaccine is not part of a routine vaccination campaign and, thus, the demand is bumpy and depends on whether or not there are outbreaks.

Some public health experts are hoping for the resumption of preventive cholera vaccinations, which have been placed on hold given the depleted stockpile. They say it would not only help attract vaccine manufacturers, but it would be good for public health.

That's what Ralph Ternier would like to see. He's the chief medical officer for Zanmi Lasante in Haiti, a sister organization to Partners In Health. In 2022, Haiti was declared cholera-free, but that turned out to be premature. In 2023, the country experienced one of the world's deadliest cholera outbreaks. Ternier worries that more cholera is on its way as Haiti heads into the rainy season struggling with political upheaval, gang violence and a lack of clean water.

He says vaccinating people now could help avoid an outbreak.

"When you vaccinate millions of people, you give yourself time, like three or five years of low cases of cholera," he said.

That would lead to lives saved as well as time to build and repair drinking water and sewage systems, but for now, Ternier said, that's just a dream.

"Honestly, based on the current situation, I'm not expecting to have vaccines," he said.

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The global stockpile of cholera vaccines is completely empty. Here's why : Goats and Soda - NPR

During a sunny morning on Floridas Gulf Coast last month, an 11-year-old golden retriever named Hunter bounded through a pine grove. Snatching his favorite toy, a well-chewed tennis ball attached to a short rope, he rolled through the tall grass, with an energy that seemed inexhaustible. A passerby might not have even noticed that this playful golden has only three legs.

For Deana Hudgins, the dogs owner, it seems almost unthinkable that two years ago Hunter was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer that kills upwards of 65% of the dogs it afflicts within 12 months, in his left front leg.

For many years Hunter worked alongside his owner as a search-and-rescue dog, helping find victims of building collapses and other disasters. He no longer performs those duties, but does still help Hudgins train other dogs. The energetic golden can also run, fetch, and catch as well as ever.

And two years since his initial diagnosis, Hunter has no signs of cancer. The dogs life-saving treatment incorporated typical approaches, including amputation of the left leg and chemotherapy.But Hunter also received a novel therapy a cancer vaccine developed by Yales Mark Mamula.

If we can provide some benefit, some relief a pain-free life that is the best outcome that we could ever have.

Mark Mamula, Yale School of Medicine

The treatment, a form of immunotherapy that is currently under review by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which regulates animal treatments, has been subject to multiple clinical trials over the past eight years. And the results are promising; for hundreds of dogs, including Hunter, the vaccine has proved effective.

Mamula, a professor of medicine (rheumatology) at Yale School of Medicine, believes the vaccine offers a badly needed weapon in the fight against canine cancer.

Dogs, just like humans, get cancer spontaneously; they grow and metastasize and mutate, just like human cancers do, said Mamula. My own dog died of an inoperable cancer about 11 years ago. Dogs just like humans suffer greatly from their cancers.

If we can provide some benefit, some relief a pain-free life that is the best outcome that we could ever have.

Even as recently as a decade ago, Mamula didnt anticipate that he would one day develop a cancer vaccine for dogs. A rheumatology researcher, he studies autoimmune diseases like lupus and Type 1 diabetes and how the body gives rise to them.

But that work eventually led him to cancer research as well.

Autoimmune diseases, Mamula says, are characterized by the immune system attacking the bodys own tissues; in the case of Type 1 diabetes, the immune system targets cells in the pancreas.

Then several years ago, using what they knew about autoimmunity, Mamula and his research team developed a potential cancer treatment that they say initiates a targeted immune response against tumors.

In many ways tumors are like the targets of autoimmune diseases, he said. Cancer cells are your own tissue and are attacked by the immune system. The difference is we want the immune system to attack a tumor.

It was a chance meeting with a veterinary oncologist soon thereafter that made Mamula think that this novel treatment might work well in dogs.

There are about 90 million dogs, living in 65 million households, in the United States alone. Around one in four dogs will get cancer. Among dogs 10 years or older, that ratio jumps to around one in two.

Yet the therapies used to treat these cancers remain fairly antiquated, Mamula says.

There have been very few new canine cancer treatments developed in decades its a field that is begging for improvement, he said.

In 2015, Mamula met a veterinary oncologist named Gerry Post. During his 35-year career Post has treated cancer in snakes, turtles, and zoo animals. But most of his patients are dogs and cats.

Through conversations with Post, Mamula realized that it wouldnt be difficult to make the leap from human to dog cancers. Together they would launch an early-phase study into Mamulas dog cancer vaccine.

Dog and human cancers are quite similar in a number of ways, said Post, chief medical officer of One Health Company, a canine cancer treatment group, and an adjunct professor of comparative medicine at Yale School of Medicine. Whether its how the cancers appear under the microscope, how the cancers behave, respond to chemotherapy, develop resistance, and metastasize.

After talking with a veterinary oncologist, Mamula realized that it wouldnt be difficult to make the leap from addressing human cancers to dog cancers.

Even the types of cancers that afflict dogs and humans are similar. Like humans, dogs can get melanoma, breast cancer, colon cancer, and osteosarcoma, among others.

When it comes to curing these diseases, these similarities bring an important benefit: understanding cancer in one species will help scientists understand cancer in the other. And treatments that work well for one may actually work well for both.

Several types of cancers in both humans and dogs have been found to overexpress proteins known as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). These include colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and osteosarcoma. One type of treatment currently given to human patients with these cancers involves monoclonal antibodies, proteins that can bind to and affect the function of EGFR and/or HER2. However, patients can develop a resistance to them and their effects wane over time.

For their treatment, Mamula and his team wanted to take a different approach.

Monoclonal antibody treatments are produced from one immune cell and bind to one part of the EGFR/HER2 molecules, but Mamula and his team wanted to induce a polyclonal response.

Doing so, he says, would create antibodies from multiple immune cells, rather than just one, which could bind to multiple parts of the EGFR/HER2 molecules instead of a single area. This would, in theory, reduce the likelihood of developing resistance.

The research team, led by Hester Doyle and Renelle Gee, who are both members of Mamulas Yale lab, with assistance from the New Haven-based biotechnology company L2 Diagnostics, LLC, tested many different candidates in order to find just the right compound. They eventually found one.

After first testing it in mice, and finding promising results, they initiated their first clinical trial in dogs in 2016.

Deana Hudgins knew there was something special about Hunter before she brought him home as an 8-week-old puppy, back in 2012, and began training him to be her next search-and-rescue partner.

The smallest of 18 puppies from two litters, Hunter wasnt the obvious choice when she began looking for a partner.

He was the runt, said Hudgins, who has been training search-and-rescue dogs since 2001 and now runs her own company, the Center for Forensic Training and Education, which provides canine training in Ohio and Florida. But in his case, it made him a little scrappy. He was small but very confident and very brave.

When all of the other puppies were sleeping at the end of the day, he was still running around, climbing all of the toys, retrieving things. We need confident puppies, and thats what he possessed.

By the time he was a year old, Hunter began aiding searches at sites across the United States, working with local law enforcement and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), following natural disasters. His first search, in 2014, was at the site of a mudslide in Oso, Washington that killed 43 people. In his final FEMA search, he helped search for victims of the devastating condominium collapse in the Miami suburb of Surfside, Florida, in June 2021. Hunter was involved in hundreds of searches in the years between.

In 2022, Hunter was still very active and had just earned another service certification when Hudgins noticed that he seemed uncharacteristically sore following a five-day training class.

Ive always been very proactive with my dogs because I spend every day with them, and so I notice very little things, she said. And hes not a dog to limp.

A veterinarian assumed that Hunter had strained something, suggesting anti-inflammatories, but Hudgins insisted on an x-ray. The test revealed the osteosarcoma in Hunters leg.

After doing a lot of research, and consulting with different veterinary groups about what steps to take, Hudgins decided that amputation offered the best chance for Hunters survival, along with chemotherapy.

But during that research, Hudgins had also come across Mamulas vaccine trial. So she reached out to a colleague, James Hatch, a former Navy SEAL who trained dogs in the military and whose nonprofit supports service dogs. Hudgins knew that Hatch also happened to be at Yale, where he is a student in the Eli Whitney Students Program.

I was willing to try whatever I could to keep [Hunter] around as long as possible, said Hudgins. We ask a lot of our working dogs. They work in environments that are very dangerous and often deadly. And my promise to all of them is I will do whatever I have to do to give them the best, healthiest, longest life possible. Dogs dont survive this disease so there was no downside to me for trying the vaccine.

Hatch connected her with Mamula, and soon Hunter was part of the clinical trial. He received his first vaccine dose ahead of his amputation surgery, his second before initiating chemotherapy, and a booster last summer.

Twenty-two months since his cancer diagnosis, Hunter is now considered a long-term osteosarcoma survivor and Hudgins says hes thriving.

He adjusted very well to his front limb amputation, she said. He continues to run around the yard. He swims in the pool. He comes with me to training and chases the other dogs around the yard.

During a recent morning in Florida, Hunter drifted toward a nearby pond while playing outside. Hudgins, knowing the potential risks of straying too close to a pond in Florida (There are alligators everywhere.), quickly called him back. Hunter immediately returned to her.

From a very young age, Hunter wanted to learn the rules of the game, she said. He was eager to go to work every day. I am very, very lucky to have been able to be his partner for 10 years. Hunter is one of those once-in-a-lifetime dogs.

Hunters positive response to the treatment is one many other dogs have experienced as well.

To date, more than 300 dogs have been treated with the vaccine during a series of clinical trials, which are still ongoing at 10 sites in the U.S. and Canada. The findings, which have been published in a peer-reviewed study, have shown that the treatment creates antibodies that are able to home in on and bind to tumors, and then interfere with the signaling pathways responsible for tumor growth.

According to the research team, the vaccine increases the 12-month survival rates of dogs with certain cancers from about 35% to 60%. For many of the dogs, the treatment also shrinks tumors.

While future studies will determine if the vaccine can reduce the incidence of cancer in healthy dogs, the treatment for now remains a therapeutic treatment option after a cancer diagnosis has been made.

Witnessing the happiness that successful therapies provide to families with dogs is incredibly rewarding.

But even this represents something more than just a new tool in the fight against canine cancer, Post says. Its a whole new toolbox.

And in veterinary oncology, our toolbox is much smaller than that of human oncology, he said. This vaccine is truly revolutionary. I couldnt be more excited to be a veterinary oncologist.

Mamula has created a company, called TheraJan, which aims to eventually produce the vaccine. Last year, the company (whose name is inspired, in part, by the late Yale immunologist Charles Janeway, who was Mamulas mentor) won a Faculty Innovation Award from Yale Ventures, a university initiative that supports innovation and entrepreneurship on campus and beyond.

While launching clinical tests of the vaccines effectiveness in humans may be a logical future step, for now Mamula is focused on getting USDA approval of the vaccine for dogs and distributed for wider use.

No matter where it goes, its a project close to his heart.

I get many emails from grateful dog owners who had been told that their pets had weeks or months to live but who are now two or three years past their cancer diagnosis, he said. Its a program thats not only valuable to me as a dog lover. Witnessing the happiness that successful therapies provide to families with dogs is incredibly rewarding.

And once the vaccine becomes available for public use, he says, for working dogs like Hunter it will always be free of charge.

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Novel cancer vaccine offers new hope for dogs and those who love them - Yale News

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A second case of measles was diagnosed in Chicago in less than 24 hours.

The second case involved a child living inside a migrant shelter in Pilsen.

CDPH officials say the young child infected with the measles, has recovered and is no longer infectious.

An investigation is underway to determine who the child may have come into contact with while contagious

Part of that requirement is that everyone in the shelter in the 2200-block of South Halsted Street must stay here until they are screened.

The Alderman of this ward said there are 1,876 people living there, including 95 toddlers between the ages of one and two.

Officials said, "Those who have been vaccinated can leave the shelter while those who have not been vaccinated will have to remain.

All unvaccinated residents will be screened for symptoms and offered the measles vaccine."

This is the second case in Chicago. The investigation is on to identify anyone who may have been exposed to the first patient on the North Side.

That patient went to Swedish Hospital's Galter Pavilion in the 5100-block of North California, last Tuesday to seek care.

The patient also rode the number 92 Foster CTA bus, between 9 and 11:30 a.m. That person is now recovering at home.

"Measles is highly contagious," Dr. Jonathan Pinsky of Endeavor Edward Hospital said. It can be spread very quickly, so it can take only one case to cause a massive outbreak."

CDPH, the Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) and other City agencies began assessing the vaccination status of all residents of the shelter Friday morning.

They also secured increased meal services for those who will have to stay on site.

The health department is also delivering additional masks and other personal protective equipment for residents and staff.

Dr. Pinsky said the best way to protect yourself right now is to vaccinate.

"Measles is highly contagious," Dr. Pinsky said. "For those who don't have immunity, up to 80 percent of people will get infected after an exposure but if you are fully immunized, vaccinated or born before 1957, the chances of getting an infection are very low."

Measles is making a comeback because of vaccine hesitancy health officials said.

In the first two months of this year, there were 41 cases in the U.S. All of last year, there were only 58.

The assessment of the shelter residents will begin early Friday morning.

Vaccine hesitency is an issue, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends children get two doses of the MMR vaccine.

That first dose is given ages 12 to 15 months. The second dose between the ages of 4 and 6.

Adults are also eligible to get one dose of the vaccine, if they're not already immune.

A young child staying at a Chicago shelter was diagnosed with measles, the Chicago Department of Health said Friday.

New safety orders are in effect for people staying at the new arrivals shelter in Pilsen and health officials are warning Chicagoans about who else may have been exposed.

CDPH officials said the young child has recovered and is no longer infectious.

But now, an investigation is underway to determine who the child may have come into contact with while infectious.

Part of that requirement is everyone in the shelter in the 2200-block of South Halsted Street must stay there until they are screened.

Officials said, "Those who have been vaccinated can leave the shelter while those who have not been vaccinated will have to remain. All unvaccinated residents will be screened for symptoms and offered the measles vaccine."

Officials are also working to identify anyone who may have been exposed outside the shelter.

Health officials said that patient was in two public settings in which they cannot obtain a list of all exposed people. If you were in the following locations on Feb. 27, 2024, you may have been exposed to measles:

Galter Medical Pavilion at Swedish Hospital, located at 5140 N. California Ave., between 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m.

CTA Bus #92 (Foster) between 9:15 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

If you were at either of the above locations during those times, please immediately contact CDPH at 312-743-7216, Monday - Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

"Measles is airborne, which means it suspends in the air for multiple hours, even two days after that person was in the vicinity," Dr. Nicholas Cozzi of RUSH University Medical Center said.

Measles is making a comeback because of vaccine hesitancy health officials said.

In the first two months of this year, there were 41 cases in the U.S. All of last year, there were only 58.

The assessment of the shelter residents will begin early Friday morning.

Read this article:

Measles in Chicago: Child diagnosed at Pilsen migrant shelter in second city case in 24 hours, CDPH says - WLS-TV

Health officials said the measles risk for vaccinated residents is low.

March 8, 2024, 10:41 AM ET

5 min read

Chicago health officials have confirmed the city's first measles cases since 2019 amid a rising number of infections across the U.S.

The first case was confirmed Thursday in a city resident whose source of infection is unknown, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), as reported by local ABC News affiliate ABC 7 Chicago.

The infectious period ended Wednesday and the patient is currently recovering well at home, health officials said.

On Friday, a second case was confirmed in a young child staying at a new arrivals shelter in the Pilsen neighborhood, in the city's Lower West Side, health officials said in a release provided to ABC News. Similar to the first patient, the child has since recovered and is no longer infectious, according to officials.

No identifying information was provided about either patient, including names, ages, sex or race/ethnicity.

Health officials said people may have been exposed to the first patient on Feb. 27 either at Galter Medical Pavilion at Swedish Hospital between 8:30 a.m. CT and 12 p.m. CT, or on Chicago Transit Authority Bus 92 (Foster) between 9:15 a.m. CT and 11:30 a.m. CT, ABC 7 Chicago reported.

For the child shelter resident case, it's unclear who may have been exposed so the CDPH is asking all residents of that shelter, located in the 2200 block of S. Halsted St., to remain in place so health officials can determine if the residents have been previously vaccinated against measles.

"Those who have been vaccinated can go about their normal business while those who have not been vaccinated will have to remain indoors to watch for symptoms," the CDPH said. "All unvaccinated residents will be screened for symptoms and offered the measles vaccine."

The CDPH further said it is delivering masks and other personal protective equipment for shelter residents and staff, and that the Department of Family and Support Services has secured additional meals for those staying on site.

Health officials added that most Chicago residents are routinely vaccinated with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in childhood and so are not at high risk for contracting measles.

Last month, the CDPH said it was investigating a possible measles exposure in Chicago, after a northwest Indiana resident with a confirmed case of measles sought medical care at three Chicago hospitals while contagious between Feb. 11 and Feb.16. It's unknown if the two confirmed Chicago cases are linked to the Indiana case.

"The MMR vaccine is 97% effective at stopping transmission of measles and has enabled us to live in a time when seeing cases of measles at all is a rarity," CDPH Commissioner Dr. Olusimbo Ige said in a statement at the time. "It is never too late to get vaccinated against this virus, not only to protect yourself but also to protect those around you who may be unable or too young to be vaccinated themselves."

Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, but pockets of unvaccinated or under-vaccinated communities have led to sporadic outbreaks over the last several years.

As of Feb. 29 of this year, 41 measles cases have been reported in 16 states California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Illinois is now the 17th state to see measles cases.

See the article here:

Chicago reports first measles cases since 2019 amid rising infections across US - ABC News

Following criticism from scientists around the world, a virology journal has retracted a paper describing the first test in humans of an Iran-made vaccine against COVID-19.

Iran licensed the home-grown Noora vaccine for emergency use in 2022 and has reportedly administered millions of doses to its citizens. The countrys health authorities say the shot is 94% effective.

The now-retracted paper, published in 2022 in the Journal of Medical Virology, was the only report on the clinical development of the vaccine to have appeared in an international journal. The article has been cited 10 times, according to Clarivates Web of Science.

In a commentary last year in the same journal, Donald Forthal, chief of infectious diseases at the University of California, Irvine, raised several concerns about the article, titled Safety and immunogenicity of a recombinant receptor-binding domain-based protein subunit vaccine (Noora vaccine) against COVID-19 in adults: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase 1 trial.

As we reported in October, Forthal questioned the efficacy of the vaccine and expressed surprise a manuscript containing so many serious flaws would have been accepted for publication following peer review, and given these issues, a retraction may be in order.

The journals editor-in-chief, Shou-Jiang Gao, said at the time the paper had undergone two rounds of rigorously [sic] review by experts of the field before it was published. The authors had responded to Forthals critique, Gao told us, and their response had already undergone 3 rounds of review, each with 2 reviewers:

The last decision was made on October 24, 2023 and deadline for submitting the revision is November 23, 2023. So, we are waiting for the authors to submit the last revision before accepting and publishing it. This should fully address the issues that are raised.

But the response was never published. Meanwhile, in January, Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, an epidemiologist in Australia, flagged additional problems in the paper on PubPeer, including several impossible and contradictory numbers.

On March 2, the journal announced the paper had been retracted, stating:

The retraction has been agreed due to concerns raised by third parties regarding issues with the data presented in the article. Several inconsistencies concerning the information provided about the analyzed subjects were additionally identified. Furthermore, the authors failed to disclose the presence of potential conflicts of interest that may have affected the interpretation of the results presented. Accordingly, the editors consider the conclusions of this manuscript to be invalid. The authors have been informed of the decision to retract but did not agree with it.

Corresponding author Hassan Abolghasemi of Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, in Tehran, told us by email:

Retraction of our article was a political decision not a scientific decision because there was a pressure on journal based on [apartheid] scientific issue. Our response to the comment never accepted by [PubPeer] and journal to be published.

Two days after the retraction, another group of researchers published a study in mice comparing the effect of four COVID-19 vaccines used in Iran.

Our results indicate significant immunogenicity and neutralization efficacy induced by PastoCovac Plus and Sinopharm, but not by Noora and SpikoGen, the team wrote in the article, which cited the now-retracted paper. This suggests the need for additional comparative assessment of the potency and efficacy of these four vaccines in vaccinated subjects.

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Iran COVID-vaccine paper with 'serious flaws' retracted - Retraction Watch