outbreak news from FierceBiotech

The GAO says that a pandemic vaccine can offer little help during the crucial initial stages of an outbreak. The Department of Health and Human Services has estimated that it would take 20 to 23 Read more...

> France's Flamel Technologies gets an undisclosed upfront payment and a schedule of potential milestone payments after signing a licensing and development deal with Wyeth for using its technology Read more...

A group of experts has flown to China to investigate a recent outbreak of a virus afflicting the country's pigs. That move underscores the lingering concerns that China is still failing to be open Read more...

A UK lab jointly owned by Merck and Sanofi-Aventis insists that there is no evidence that it played any role in a recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, Read more...

An outbreak of a particularly virulent form of tuberculosis in South Africa is raising concerns among a group of health experts that the disease has already spread in the region, raising fears of an epidemic that could threaten the lives of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. South African officials insist that they have the situation in control, but TB experts say that the government has been slow to respond after 52 of 53 TB infection patients in one clinic died from the strain a …

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> Australian-based Peptech has announced that it has acquired the antibody assets of UK-based Scancell through its newly established U.K. subsidiary, Peptech UK. Report

> Chutes & Ladders: Blue Heron Biotechnology has named John Fess CEO. Mr. Fess succeeds John Mulligan, Ph.D., Blue Heron's founder who will become the company's board chairman and Chief Scientific Officer. …

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If you haven't heard of Morgellons disease, you may soon. Fueled by a popular website outlining its symptoms, thousands of patients are reporting that they have the as-yet undocumented illness. Patients claiming to have Morgellons flooded the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has launched an investigation of the phenomenon.

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Indonesia is investigating what could be two new clusters of bird flu victims, including one that is in the same area where seven family members were recently wiped out in one of the most alarming clusters seen yet. Researchers began to look for human victims of the disease when they discovered several dead birds in the area. The virus has not been confirmed in the new clusters, but Indonesian health officials are treating it as H5N1 pending lab confirmation.

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With Novartis poised to win control of Chiron on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal takes a look at the sudden popularity of the vaccine business. Long considered a marginal endeavor, new fears of a possible pandemic have boosted government spending and helped make vaccine makers look more attractive than ever. Also driving this trend are new technologies that promise to make manufacturing vaccines much less complex. New investments should help avert any repeats of Chiron's …

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The race for a new vaccine to fight a human outbreak of H5N1 has heated up as GlaxoSmithKline says it has begun human trials of two experimental bird flu vaccines. Researchers have made this new vaccine with an that boosts the vaccine's effectiveness. It is also boosting the hopes of GSK researchers, who believe that the new vaccines may be much more effective at combating bird flu than a competing vaccine that is being advanced by Sanofi-Aventis. Sanofi researchers said earlier this week …

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