Tag: Africa
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Ebola Monitoring System Devised with Genome Sequencing
3 February 2016. An international team of scientists and engineers designed a mobile system using a hand-held genome sequencing device that provided real-time monitoring of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2015. Researchers led by microbiologists Nicholas Loman and Joshua Quick at University of Birmingham in the U.K. published their findings in today’s (3…
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Regeneron to Develop Antibody Therapy for Ebola
21 September 2015. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. received a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop an engineered antibody designed to treat Ebola infections. The initial $17 million contract from HHS’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority or BARDA covers initial development and testing work on the therapy, but the program…
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Point-of-Care Ebola Test Found Accurate in Field Test
26 June 2015. A commercial point-of-care test detecting Ebola virus in the blood of a patient was shown in a field test in Sierra Leone to be as accurate as tests sent to remote labs for analysis. Results of the study led by Nira Pollock of Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital were published…
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FDA Approves Pediatric HIV Drug Formulation
5 June 2015. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved an application for a current HIV drug formulated to better treat infections in infants and young children, especially in limited resource regions. The formulation is a combination of lopinavir and ritonavir in pellet form designed to mix with food, and manufactured by the generic drug…
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Smartphone Vision App Found Accurate as Clinic Test
29 May 2015. An inexpensive smartphone-based test was found to measure visual acuity as well as the familiar standard eye chart used in clinics. The team that developed the Portable Eye Examination Kit or Peek at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and other institutions in the U.K. published its results in yesterday’s…
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Trial Testing 3-Drug Combo for Drug Resistant TB
14 May 2015. A new clinical trial is underway in South Africa testing a regimen of three drugs to treat extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, a form of the disease that does not respond to normal or even back-up treatments. The trial is sponsored by Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, or TB Alliance, an international consortium…
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Intermediate Trial Shows Ebola Vaccines Safe
27 March 2015. An intermediate-stage clinical trial in Liberia testing two new vaccines to prevent Ebola infections, shows the vaccines appear to be safe, allowing for larger-scale assessments. Initial results of the trial were reported yesterday by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of National Institutes of Health. The 2014-15 Ebola virus…
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U.S., Canada Authorities OK Biotech Ebola Treatments
23 September 2014. Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the company providing its experimental therapy for people with suspected or confirmed Ebola infections. The Vancouver, British Columbia biotechnology company says approval of its therapy called TKM-Ebola is part of a larger regulatory framework for the treatments worked out with FDA and…
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Small Business Grant Funds Point-of-Care Sickle Cell Test
22 September 2014. A Cambridge, Massachusetts diagnostics company received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to develop a simple point-of-care test for sickle cell disease, a genetic blood disorder affecting a large percentage of people of African origin. The $225,000 grant from National Institutes of Health’s SBIR program to Daktari Diagnostics will support development…
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Ebola Vaccine Safety Trials Scheduled in U.S., U.K., Africa
28 August 2014. Early-stage clinical trials testing the safety of new vaccines to protect against the Ebola virus are scheduled to begin as early as next week at sites in the U.S., United Kingdom, Mali, and The Gambia in West Africa. The vaccines are being developed by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),…