NOVAVAX Completes Enrollment Of Pivotal H1N1 Influenza Vaccine Clinical Trial In Mexico

Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX) announced that the enrollment of over 3,500 subjects in Mexico has been completed in Stage B of its pivotal 2009 H1N1 virus-like-particle (VLP) pandemic influenza vaccine study. With the 1,000 subjects already enrolled in Stage A of the trial, the enrollment in this pivotal trial is now complete with over 4,500 subjects. In this Stage B of Novavax’s pivotal study of H1N1 influenza vaccine candidate, a cohort of 3,500 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 64 years old were enrolled…

Go to Source… Continue reading

Pandemic Flu, Like Seasonal H1N1, Shows Signs Of Resisting Tamiflu

If the behavior of the seasonal form of the H1N1 influenza virus is any indication, scientists say that chances are good that most strains of the pandemic H1N1 flu virus will become resistant to Tamiflu, the main drug stockpiled for use against it. Researchers at Ohio State University have traced the evolutionary history of the seasonal H1N1 influenza virus, which first infected humans during the 1918 pandemic. It is one of three seasonal influenza A viruses that commonly infect humans. The others are H1N2 and H3N2…

Go to Source… Continue reading

Findings confirm H1N1 flu’s toll on pregnant women

New research from Australia confirms that the HIN1 flu hits pregnant women particularly hard-especially if they have asthma, obesity or diabetes.

“This finding underscores the importance of education regarding recommendations for vaccination in pregnancy and the need for rapid testing and earlier use of antivirals in suspected influenza,” Dr. Michelle L. Giles of Monash Medical Center in Clayton, Victoria, and her colleagues write.

While more than three-quarters of the women in the study had been treated with oseltamivir (Tamiflu), Giles and her team add, two-thirds had been sick for at least 48 hours before getting the drug. Flu medication should be started… Continue reading

Also In Global Health News: Maternal, Child Health In Rwanda, Pakistan, India; Mongolia Weather; H1N1

Rwanda Targets Communities In Effort To Curb Maternal Mortality To reduce maternal mortality in Rwanda and reach U.N. Millennium Development Goal targets, the government will conduct maternal death audits in villages to help identify ways to improve outcomes, Rwanda’s Minister of Health Richard Sezibera announced recently, the New Times/allAfrica.com reports. “We believe that no woman should die giving life and once everyone partakes in this battle against maternal mortality, more women will be encouraged to deliver in hospitals â�” a major prevention strategy,” Sezibera said…

Go to Source… Continue reading

Aggressive Response Helped Chilean Hospital Improve H1N1 Influenza Outcomes

A Chilean hospital’s early use of antiviral treatment in influenza patients and other aggressive measures helped reduce the number of severe H1N1 cases and related deaths. Those are the findings of a new study, now available online, published in the March 15, 2010 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases. From May to July 2009, the number of patients visiting the emergency department at the Santiago hospital increased significantly, by 88.5 percent, compared with the same period in previous years…

Go to Source… Continue reading

WHO Emergency Committee Concludes ‘Too Premature’ To Declare H1N1 Has Peaked

The WHO’s emergency committee concluded Tuesday that it was too early to declare that H1N1 (swine flu) has peaked in all parts of the world, the Associated Press reports. The announcement came after the committee met to review the most recent statistics of H1N1 activity around the world (2/24). “The 15 members of the body that makes confidential recommendations to WHO Director-General Dr…

Go to Source… Continue reading

Diagnostic Hybrids Receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization For D3 Ultra 2009 H1N1 Influenza A Virus ID Kit

Diagnostic Hybrids, a Quidel Company (NASDAQ: QDEL) has received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its D3 Ultra 2009 H1N1 Influenza A Virus ID Kit, a monoclonal antibody fluorescent staining kit for the specific identification of 2009 H1N1 influenza A in direct patient specimens or incubated tissue cultures…

Go to Source… Continue reading

FDA Recommends H1N1 For Inclusion In Next Year’s Flu Vaccine

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday recommended that the H1N1 (swine flu) strain be added to next year’s seasonal flu vaccine, “putting an end to separate shots deployed against the pandemic,” Bloomberg reports. The FDA committee voted unanimously to make the H1N1 strain one of the three strains included in the shot, according to the news service. “The panel’s recommendations are routinely adopted and used to guide vaccine manufacturers,” Bloomberg writes (Randall, 2/22)…

Go to Source… Continue reading

Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics LLC Receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) For The First 2009 H1N1 Influenza Assay To Include MTM

Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics announced it has been granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Longhorn Influenza A/H1N1-09 Prime RRT-PCR Assay™ in CLIA high complexity laboratories. . The Longhorn Influenza A/H1N1-09 Prime RRT-PCR Assay™ is a ready-use assay that requires no mixing prior to use and has been authorized for use on the ABI 7500…

Go to Source… Continue reading

Exploring The Dynamics Of Mexico’s H1N1 Pandemic

Influenza surveillance mechanisms in Mexico were adequate during the fast-spreading H1N1 outbreak in 2009, yet Mexico did not have the infrastructure to quickly identify the emergence of this novel strain, according to an Arizona State University (ASU) epidemiologist. Carlos Castillo-Chavez, director of ASU’s Mathematical, Computational and Modeling Sciences Center in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, took a close look at factors impacting the influenza dynamics within Mexico during a presentation Feb…

Go to Source… Continue reading