Beursonline.nl

aossa 18 april 2006 17:07

0

Accelerating Vaccine Development to Save Lives
www.malariavaccine.org/files/Backgrou...

Clinical Trials: Crucials Steps on the road of Malaria (august 2004)
www.malariavaccine.org/files/MVI_clin...

Getting to grips with malaria: a view from India
www.scidev.net/Opinions/index.cfm?fus...

Malaria vaccines: research problems and priorities
David Arnot (November 2005)
www.scidev.net/dossiers/index.cfm?fus...

[verwijderd] 18 april 2006 17:17

0

quote:
Biocon schreef:
Stefan noemde siRNA een van de belangrijkste biotech vindingen van de laatste 20 jaar. Het zou kunnen, vind ik, maar klinisch moet het zich ook nog gaan bewijzen.

Helemaal mee eens, ik doelde dan ook op de toepassing van siRNA voor fundamenteel wetenschappelijk en pre-klinisch onderzoek. Ik moet wel zeggen dat ik onder de indruk ben van de klinische en pre-klinische resultaten van siRNA therapeutics.

Stefan

[verwijderd] 23 april 2006 11:50

0

Recombinant Malaria Vaccine

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have developed a synthetic vaccine, incorporating the highly variable repeat sequences of the merozoite surface protein antigen, expressed during the invasive blood-stage, into one "super- antigen" sequence for inclusion in a malaria vaccine.

It is well understood that Plasmodium falciparum, transmitted to human beings through the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito, is the most common cause of human malaria. Extensive polymorphism within pathogen antigens has presented a complex challenge for vaccine design, leading most groups to focus on conserved regions. However, there is significant experimental and epidemiological evidence to suggest that polymorphic regions of the parasite play a role in natural immunity.

Edinburgh researchers have designed a novel synthetic "super-antigen" sequence, incorporating all the known immunogenic antibody epitopes (identified by extensive epitope mapping) for each of the K1 and MAD20 polymorphic block 2 regions. These synthetic sequences have been proven to be highly immunogenic in pre-clinical animal trials. A tandem linked array containing the RO33 sequence and the synthetic K1 and MAD20 sequences is under construction to test in vaccine delivery systems and animal models. Such a vaccine should offer protection against clinical malaria for all P. falciparum infections.

Key Benefits:
The benefits of designing a vaccine against the MSP1 block 2 region are:
* Evidence from epidemiological studies, in vitro parasite inhibition assays, and preclinical animal trials indicate that MSP1 offers protective immunity
* The block 2 region of MSP1 is the most polymorphic part of the P. falciparium genome suggesting that it is under the strongest diversifying selection and thus has an important role in developing natural immunity

Applications:
* The tandem array sequence incorporates all known sequence variability and could be used to develop a vaccine against clinical malaria caused by all P. falciparium parasites in endemic areas
* The polypeptide design strategy that was used to consolidate the extensive sequence polymorphism of the MSP1 block 2 region can be applied to design other "super- antigen" synthetic subunit vaccines

www.research-innovation.ed.ac.uk/reco...
pharmalicensing.com/licensing/displic...

[verwijderd] 23 april 2006 11:53

0

Posting gocrucellgo -> "plakken" :

gocrucellgo - 22 apr 06, 12:16 | Reageer | Quote | Zoek | Aanbevolen: 0

MALARIA PRIME/BOOST VACCINES

Bibliografische gegevens Beschrijving Conclusies Mozaïekweergave Origineel document INPADOC statusgegevens

Octrooinummer: WO2006040334
Publicatiedatum: 2006-04-20
Uitvinder: PAU MARIA GRAZIA (NL); GOUDSMIT JAAP (NL); COHEN JOSEPH D (BE); DUBOIS PATRICE M (BE); STEWART V ANN (US); HEPPNER DONALD (US)
Aanvrager: CRUCELL HOLLAND BV (NL); GLAXOSMITHKLINE BIOLOG SA (BE); US ARMY (US); PAU MARIA GRAZIA (NL); GOUDSMIT JAAP (NL); COHEN JOSEPH D (BE); DUBOIS PATRICE M (BE); STEWART V ANN (US); HEPPNER DONALD (US)
Classificatie:
- internationaal: A61K39/015; A61K39/002;
- europees: A61K39/015
Aanvraagnummer: WO2005EP55209 20051013
Prioriteitsnummer(s): US20040619056P 20041014; EP20040105035 20041014

Bekijk INPADOC equivalenten

Report a data error here

Samenvatting van WO2006040334

The invention relates to novel vaccine regimens in which specific prime/boost regimens are applied using low-neutralized recombinant adenoviral vectors harboring nucleic acids encoding antigens from Plasmodium falciparum and purified recombinant protein vaccines such as RTS,S, in the context of appropriate adjuvants.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Informatie afkomstig uit database esp@cenet - Worldwide

v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&ID...

[verwijderd] 25 april 2006 10:09

0

World Bank criticised for efforts to battle malaria
24 Apr 2006 23:01:03 GMT

Source: Reuters
By Patricia Reaney

LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - Public health experts criticised the World Bank on Tuesday for failing to tackle malaria in hard-hit countries while millions of children have died.
They said the bank, which has an annual budget of $20 billion, has concealed the amount of money it spends to fight the illness, funded ineffective treatment, reduced its expert staff and published false statistics about its efforts.
Professor Amir Attaran of the Institute of Population Health at the University of Ottawa in Canada and his colleagues said the World Bank's programme for controlling malaria in 2005-2010 was inadequate to reverse its history of neglect for malaria.
"They have made decisions which have killed a very large number of children throughout the world," Attaran said in an interview.
"The reality is that the Bank got it dreadfully wrong on malaria in a number of ways," he said.
Malaria, a parasitic disease transmitted by mosquitoes, kills more than a million people a year, mostly young children in Africa.
Attaran and his colleagues described the Bank's technical expertise as insufficient and said it was institutionally unsuited to deliver excellence on malaria.
"We summarise the evidence, show that the Bank possesses demonstrably little experience in malaria, and argue that the Bank should relinquish its funding to other agencies better placed to control the disease," Attaran said in a report published online by The Lancet medical journal.
In response to the criticism, World Bank officials said in the online report that it was dedicated to alleviating the suffering of the 500 million people who are afflicted with malaria each year.
But it said that despite successes in malaria control in parts of Brazil, Eritrea, India and Vietnam, "the overall efforts by the Bank in malaria control were understaffed and underfunded".
Jean-Louis Sarbib, of the World Bank, said it was not easy, or even possible sometimes, to determine how much input from a donor has gone into specific activities to control malaria.
He added that $500 million in new commitments for malaria control in Africa and south Asia are expected in 2006-2008.
"World Bank Group President Paul Wolfowitz has put the full weight of his leadership behind the Bank's renewed commitment to malaria, with a strong emphasis on results," Sarbib said.

But the public health experts called for the Bank to allocate $1 billion to other organisations such as the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria which has a better track record.
"They simply need to get out of the disease control business," Attaran said.

www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L24...

[verwijderd] 25 april 2006 10:16

0

Malaria Clinical Trials Alliance Supported By New $17 Million Gates Foundation Grant

Article Date: 25 Apr 2006 - 0:00am (PDT)

The international INDEPTH Network announced today the establishment of a new initiative, the Malaria Clinical Trials Alliance (MCTA), that will help conduct clinical trials of new drugs and vaccines to fight malaria, a disease that kills 2,000 African children every day.

MCTA will provide training and technical assistance to research centers in nine countries across Africa (Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi, Gabon, Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia, Kenya and Senegal) and help to leverage the capabilities of the INDEPTH Network to strengthen global research and development activities targeting malaria. MCTA is supported by a new US$17 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

New malaria drugs and a vaccine are urgently needed in Africa, where malaria has grown resistant to the cheapest and most widely-used treatments. As several promising new drugs and vaccines move through the research pipeline, there is a need to build African capacity to conduct large-scale clinical trials of these drugs and vaccines over the next decade.

MCTA will help ensure that African trial sites are properly managed; are able to hire and train staff; and have database, communications and good financial accounting systems in place. MCTA will also facilitate collaboration among trial sites, including sharing of data, expertise and best practices.

Professor Fred Binka, Executive Director of the INDEPTH Network, said: "Important progress is being made in developing new malaria drugs and vaccines, but there are not enough research sites in Africa to conduct the trials that are needed. The funding that we have received from the Gates Foundation, which is one of the most significant grants to an Africa-based organization involved in the fight against malaria, will help accelerate research that could save millions of lives."

MCTA's initial focus will be to work with the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative to prepare sites for large-scale clinical trials of malaria drug and vaccine candidates. In the future, this alliance will seek to partner with other organizations that have candidate products that require clinical testing.

"Strengthening clinical trials facilities in Africa is key to achieving the goals of product development partnerships such as Medicines for Malaria Venture," said Dr Christopher Hentschel, President and CEO of MMV. "With nearly 20 drug development projects in the portfolio, several of which are in phase III, we are very pleased with the additional support our trial sites will receive from the Malaria Clinical Trial Alliance."

Dr Pascoal Mocumbi, the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership's ambassador, said that "this alliance addresses the fundamental issues from a long-term perspective to ensure that trial sites in Africa will provide sustainable, continuous support for, and take the lead in, clinical trials."

MCTA's long-term goal is to increase the number of self-sustaining clinical research centers in Africa that can support their own research programs linked to local and national priorities.

The INDEPTH Network was formally constituted in 2002 with initial core support from the Rockefeller Foundation, Sida/SAREC, the World Bank and the Wellcome Trust. "This investment by the Gates Foundation is not only a major milestone for INDEPTH, making it possible for us to ratchet up our scientific contributions, but is also true recognition of the efforts of our other funding partners who continue to show sustained confidence in INDEPTH," said Prof. Stephen Tollman, Chair of the INDEPTH Board of Trustees.

www.indepth-network.net

www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews....

[verwijderd] 25 april 2006 22:24

0

www.topix.net/search/?q=malaria&x=27&y=3

[verwijderd] 28 april 2006 08:12

0

GenVec Receives Additional Funding for Malaria Vaccine Program
4/27/2006 8:00:00 AM EST
BIOWIRE

GenVec, Inc. (Nasdaq:GNVC) has been awarded a $500,000 contract to continue the company's malaria vaccine research and development work with the Naval Medical Research Center for a third year. The funds will be used to support GenVec's evaluation of alternative serotype adenovector-based malaria vaccines under the U.S. Navy's congressionally sponsored Agile Vaccine Program.

"We are pleased to continue our collaboration with the Naval Medical Research Center to develop novel vaccines to prevent malaria, a disease which remains a serious public health problem," said Bill Enright, Senior Director, Head Vaccines Business Development of GenVec. "We believe this collaboration represents an important and promising application of our adenovector gene delivery technology. During the past two years we have made good progress in developing more effective malaria vaccine candidates, one of which is expected to enter Phase I clinical testing later this year."

GenVec has been collaborating with the Naval Medical Research Center for the past two years to develop next-generation adenovector-based malaria vaccines with improved immunogenicity over current vaccines.

Malaria is a life-threatening disease, which is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. Malaria parasites initially invade liver cells and, after multiplying, release tens of thousands of new parasites, which invade red blood cells, multiply again, and then destroy these cells. Flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache and vomiting appear approximately 9 to 14 days after the infectious bite. If untreated, the infection can progress rapidly and become life threatening, destroying red blood cells, causing severe anemia and blocking capillaries that carry blood to the brain resulting in coma and death. Malaria causes more than 300 million acute illnesses and over one million deaths annually, mostly among children under the age of 5. Malaria is also a major health risk for travelers and the military.
www.genengnews.com/news/bnitem.aspx?n...

[verwijderd] 28 april 2006 15:24

0

Global Fund backs new funding for deadly diseases By Laura MacInnis
42 minutes ago

GENEVA (Reuters) - The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria agreed on Friday to give millions of dollars in new grants, dispelling activists' fears that its support for the fight against the deadly diseases could dry up.

Health advocates including the Global AIDS Alliance and ActionAid had worried that lack of money could force the fund to delay help to countries battling the illnesses that kill more than 6 million people a year.

The Global Fund's board voted in favor of launching a new round of grants, to cost up to $1 billion in their first two years, even though the cash had not yet been pledged by governments and other donors.

"There was a strong agreement that given the commitments made to reach global health targets, and given the urgent needs out there, it would be ethically impossible to not launch round six," spokesman Jon Liden told Reuters.

The final amount of the new tranche of grants will depend on which specific project proposals the Global Fund board agrees to at a meeting in November, he added.

Launched with the backing of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2002 to boost funding for neglected diseases, the Global Fund has become the largest global supporter of malaria and tuberculosis projects and among the top three AIDS funders.

"Already, millions of people have benefited from the programs the Global Fund is financing around the world and hundreds of thousands of people are alive today who otherwise might not have been," Executive Director Richard Feachem said.

He said the new grants should allow the Geneva-based fund "to maintain this vital momentum to win the battle against these three pandemics."

Unlike more established institutions like the World Bank, the fund has struggled to win long-term financial backing from its donors, the largest of which are Europe, the United States and Japan.

It has already approved grants worth $5 billion to improve antiretroviral and anti-malarial drug access, distribute bed nets and expand testing to stop the spread of tuberculosis.

Programs currently supported by the agency are now fully funded, though its initial five-year grants will run out soon and will require substantial funds to be continued.

Carol Jacobs, chairwoman of the Global Fund's board, said the agency was seeking multi-year commitments from governments and increasing ties with the private sector to boost donations to cover long-term funding needs for its programs.

"We know that countries and vulnerable populations are depending on it and we must not fail them," she said.
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060428/hl_nm/
globalfund_dc;_ylt=Ak7R_ENsRqk7V.c5Q01b7MSs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3czJjNGZoBHNlYwM3NTE-

[verwijderd] 6 mei 2006 12:09

0

Malaria Vaccine Can Save Millions
Monday April 24, 4:57 pm ET
Africa Malaria Day Statement by Inventor of the First Effective Malaria Vaccine

RIXENSART, Belgium, April 24 /PRNewswire/ --
The following is a statement from Joe Cohen, the inventor of the RTS,S malaria vaccine and Vice President of R & D, Vaccines for Emerging Diseases & HIV for GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals.

Few scientists ever have the chance to see their daily work transformed into new medicines or vaccines that have the potential to save millions of lives. It is mind boggling to think that I may be one of the lucky few. Indeed, earlier this year, I and other scientists from GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals visited the construction site for the plant that is destined to produce millions of doses of the malaria vaccine, known as RTS,S. For the past 20 years, I have been closely involved in the development of this vaccine of which I am one of the inventors.

This vaccine made history last year when The Lancet published the results of a clinical trial that proved it was effective for at least 18 months in reducing clinical malaria by 35 percent and severe malaria by 49 percent, in a study that involved about 2000 Mozambican children. If all goes well, this vaccine could be licensed as early as 2011-2012, and the new GSK production plant in Belgium should be ready to begin supplying millions of doses each year to children in many of Africa's poorest countries.

As the world pauses this week to commemorate Africa Malaria Day, it is necessary to consider how important a step this vaccine may be, but also to recognize how many challenges remain. Malaria kills between one and three million people each year, mostly young African children, and is among the world's leading causes of childhood mortality. Malaria also robs Africa of crucial resources necessary for development -- as much as US$12 billion each year in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity, a sum that is roughly equivalent to all the foreign aid that flows into Africa each year.

For too long, the world has considered a malaria vaccine as some kind of "pie in the sky." In the light of the recent scientific breakthrough resulting from the successful RTS,S scientific trial, we must rethink our views on the feasibility of vaccination against malaria. Now is the time for the world to start thinking about how to use the RTS,S vaccine with other existing or soon to be implemented malaria prevention tools such as insecticide treated bed nets, indoor pesticide spraying, and intermittent prospective treatment of infants (IPTi). International organizations need to begin preparing demand forecasts, national agencies need to lay the groundwork so this vaccine can be approved as quickly as possible and introduced into national disease control strategies. Fundamentally, all people across Africa and the industrialized world need to begin building political support to ensure the resources, both financial and infrastructural, are in place to ensure that this vaccine reaches every child who needs it.

It will take a few more years to license the malaria vaccine, but we don't have to wait that long to start saving lives. Many countries are already far behind on immunizing children against diseases such as measles, rotavirus and Haemophilus influenzae type b disease, for which vaccines already exist. Immunization is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions in history, yet funding for vaccines is only a fraction of what it needs to be. A recent report by the research group SmartPharma published in the journal Vaccine found that just doubling the money the world spends on vaccines could reduce vaccine-preventable deaths by half in five years. This will translate into millions of lives saved.

And that is only by providing vaccines that already exist. Major scientific hurdles need to be overcome if we are to develop effective vaccines for other diseases such as HIV/AIDS and TB that are devastating the developing world. We are committed, working in partnership, to address these challenges. However, billions of dollars more will be needed to fund the development and purchase of these vaccines. New types of long-term financing that are currently making headlines, sponsored by forward thinking governments, could mean a positive overhaul of the short-term funding and aid mechanisms traditionally used. These new institutions include the UK-sponsored International Financing Facility for Immunisation and the G8-sponsored Advance Market Commitment for vaccines.

But financing for R&D and purchase is only part of the problem. Improving health in the developing world is a complex challenge. In many countries, major investment is required in healthcare infrastructure -- hospitals, clinics, distribution networks -- not only for immunization, but to provide daily healthcare. In particular, how these new vaccines will be introduced in low income countries and how long it will take regulatory authorities to approve them are two other hurdles that need to be overcome in order for these vaccines to get to the people who need them most as quickly as possible. Our company's research pipeline is filled with more than 20 vaccines in development, including new vaccines against HIV, TB, cervical cancer, dengue fever and meningitis. These and other new vaccines provide hope to millions of families around the world.

The successful effort to develop the RTS,S malaria vaccine proves a new approach to vaccine development public-private partnerships (PPP) is working. PPPs combine the potential financial power of governments, foundations and NGOs with the expertise of pharmaceutical companies in order to produce new medicines and vaccines. GSK's partnership with the Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) is an example of this model. Working with MVI, we have been able to rapidly move forward new clinical trials to bring the malaria vaccine to market as quickly as possible and explore promising ways to improve the vaccine to make it more effective. I am deeply convinced that public-private partnerships are an important mechanism for the development of new vaccines for the developing world, and I hope our partnership inspires other teams of researchers to work together to solve other urgent global health problems.

As excited as I was to tour our malaria vaccine manufacturing facility last year, I am sure that feeling will pale in comparison to how I feel when the first dose of the vaccine is given to a child. It is heartening to think that the biggest challenge facing a malaria vaccine today is not scientific, but logistical. Over the next few years, the world needs to move quickly so the production of the RTS,S vaccine can be scaled up so it is available to the 75 million babies born in Africa each year. On Africa Malaria Day this year, we should be proud of how far we have come, but also humbled and inspired by how much work remains to rid the world of malaria.

biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060424/nym179.ht...

[verwijderd] 11 mei 2006 22:51

0

Drug companies to stop single-drug malaria pills
11 May 2006 16:24:59 GMT
Source: Reuters
Printable view | Email this article | RSS XML [-] Text [+]

GENEVA, May 11 (Reuters) - Thirteen drug companies are to phase out single-drug artemisinin malaria medicines, which can speed up development of resistance to the drugs in malaria parasites, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday.

The United Nations agency appealed in January to all 40 producers to stop marketing artemisinin monotherapy pills and redirect production to artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs).

"This group (of 13) includes the main producers of high-quality artemisinin monotherapies. The companies will now focus their marketing efforts for malaria primarily on ACTs, in line with WHO recommendations," the WHO said in a statement.

The 13 companies include Sanofi-Aventis of France <SASY.PA> and India's Cipla Ltd <CIPL.BO>, according to Andrea Bosman, a medical officer at WHO's malaria programme.

Malaria, caused by a parasite carried by mosquitoes, kills at least one million people every year and makes 300 million people seriously ill. Ninety percent of deaths are in Africa south of the Sahara, according to the Geneva-based WHO.

Using a single-drug artemisinin treatment, or monotherapy, especially for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria, hastens development of resistance to artemisinin in malaria parasites, it says.

"Monotherapy was putting a whole class of products at risk of resistance," Bosman told Reuters.

"If we lose ACTs, we won't have an alternate, efficient medicine for the next 10 years, until there is a new generation of drugs," he added.

Some 60 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America have adopted a policy to use ACTs, but only half of them have had the funds to actually procure the drugs, according to Bosman.

When used correctly in combination with other anti-malarial drugs in ACTs, artemisinin is nearly 95 percent effective in curing uncomplicated malaria and the parasite is highly unlikely to become drug resistant, the WHO said.

AlertNet news is provided by

[verwijderd] 13 mei 2006 07:35

0

19 million Tanzanians suffer from malaria annually: UNDP

Up to 19 million people in Tanzania suffer from malaria each year with about 100,000 deaths of mostly children and pregnant women, according to a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report.

The UNDP office in Dar es Salaam said in a statement, available on Friday, that the majority of the 100,000 people who die of malaria are young children and pregnant women.

Tanzania has a population of 34.4 million people, according to the country's 2002 population census.

Malaria has been a leading cause of outpatient hospital visits in Tanzania and drains 3.4 percent of the country's gross domestic product annually.

At least a third of all the outpatients at hospitals and clinics are malaria-related.

The UNDP report said that malaria interrupts daily life by keeping adults away from work and children away from schools.

To better fight malaria, the Tanzanian government has just lifted a 14-year-old ban on insecticide DDT that helped the country to kill malaria-spreading mosquitoes.

Malaria surged back in the wake of the introduction in 1992 of a total ban on the use of DDT in Tanzania, according to local available statistics.

Though DDT was effective against mosquitoes that spread malaria and against lice that carry typhus, the insecticide was blacklisted as one of 12 persistent organic pollutants under the 2001 Stockholm Convention.
english.people.com.cn/200605/13/eng20...
**********************
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT
************
Insects have developed resistance, for every tactic that has been used against them (including biological control, crop rotation, and various chemicals)
Although the direct effects of DDT on humans might be benign, the effects on wildlife and the environment are well documented
In some countries, such as India, popluations of DDT-resistant mosquitoes exist
The fitness (i.e., reproductive success in the wild) of mutant mosquitoes is not well understood."

[verwijderd] 15 mei 2006 07:53

0

quote:
1.000 K schreef:
Drug companies to stop single-drug malaria pills

GENEVA, May 11 (Reuters) - Thirteen drug companies are to phase out single-drug artemisinin malaria medicines, which can speed up development of resistance to the drugs in malaria parasites, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday.

WHO warns Global Fund on malaria policy
By Andrew Jack in London
Published: May 15 2006 03:00 | Last updated: May 15 2006 03:00

One of the world's leading international health bodies is pursuing a policy that could cause further resistance to malaria drugs, the World Health Organisation said yesterday.

Kochi Arata, head of the WHO's malaria programme, told the Financial Times that the current policy of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria risked causing drug resistance.

He was referring to a compliance list of drugs circulated by the Global Fund, the world's leading funder of treatments for infectious disease, that contains advice on the malaria drug artemisinin. Artemisinin has proved effective in treating the worst cases of malaria, including those that have developed resistance to all other drugs.

However, health experts fear that the use of the drug as a "monotherapy" - without a second drug - will foster resistance, leaving no alternative medicine to treat the resistant parasite.

The Global Fund's compliance list cites a number of such monotherapies, of which it believes manufacturing is of good quality, and is used as a guide for countries purchasing malaria drugs. Earlier this year, the WHO launched an appeal to end monotherapy, calling on manufacturers to stop producing artemisinin alone, and on countries to ban its use. So far 13 of the 40 manufacturers of artemisinin therapy it has identified have agreed to cease production.

Mr Arata said he was concerned the others might seek to exploit the gap created by the Global Fund's compliance list and boost their own monotherapy sales. While a number of countries have also agreed to withdraw marketing authorisation from monotherapies to ban their use, 49 have not.

Mr Arata said he was most worried about China, which both uses and produces large amounts of artemisinin. However, he also criticised what he called the "unsatisfactory" response of the Global Fund to the WHO's demands that it change its compliance list.

Contacted yesterday, the Global Fund said its policy was to follow whatever advice the WHO gave to countries it funded. It argues that its list is not compulsory and reflects WHO guidelines. But the WHO argues that the list results in misuse and confusion, provides unnecessary endorsement for drugs and is used for marketing by monotherapy manufacturers.

news.ft.com/cms/s/d503a13a-e3ae-11da-...

[verwijderd] 18 mei 2006 09:27

0

Published online: 16 May 2006; | doi:10.1038/

Drug companies slow to adopt malaria treatment plan
WHO's fight against resistance to artemisinin faces uphill struggle.

Jacqueline Ruttimann

Five months ago the World Health Organization (WHO) called for a voluntary ban on the distribution of the antimalarial drug artemisinin on its own as opposed to in a combination treatment. But only one-third of the 40 targeted pharmaceutical companies have agreed to comply, with others remaining silent on the issue.

"We need to keep the pressure on," says Andrea Bosman, a medical officer at the WHO-sponsored Roll Back Malaria programme.

In the fight against malaria, which currently affects some 350 to 500 million people worldwide per year, public health officials are increasingly worried about the malaria parasite developing resistance to one of the best drugs for its treatment: artemisinin. One way to stall the development of such resistance is to ensure that artemisinin is always given in combination with other drugs. Such combination therapies work more quickly, and often more effectively, than artemisinin alone, but can be more expensive to produce.

In January of this year, the WHO called for all pharmaceutical companies to make the switch to combinations (see 'Halt called on single-drug antimalarial prescriptions'). Immediately after that call, 9 of 17 companies approached initially by the WHO signed on to the new policy.

Slow going

But progress has proven slow. By 11 May, the WHO announced, only a total of 13 drug companies out of the 40 approached had agreed to switch. In the following days, news@nature.com has discovered, at least two additional companies, Dafra Pharma in Belgium and Kunming Pharmaceutical Corporation in China, have also come on board.

The remaining companies, says Bosman, are filling the vacuum left by the compliant companies. Some of them, he claims, are trying to avoid the impression that they are selling single therapies by packaging their artemisinin as tea infusions, food supplements and candies. "The companies are coming through the back door to make a profit," says Bosman. Others counter that these are simply more traditional methods of medicinal delivery in the countries involved.

One of the companies approached by the WHO, HM Generics in the Netherlands, issued a statement to news@nature saying that they do promote combination therapies but will, in the cases of pre-existing deals, continue to deliver artemisinin alone. "Our organization can promote the artemisinin-based combination therapies but we are not capable of forcing clients to make the switch," writes marketing spokeswoman Mariella Asta. She adds that they will inform their clients about the risk of developing resistance from using monotherapies.

The WHO says it has little power to enforce compliance, but plans to send a written document outlining the situation to the companies, funding agencies including the Global Fund and World Bank, and drug regulatory agencies of countries where malaria is endemic. Nearly two-thirds of the more-than-70 countries that need artemisinin combination drugs still allow marketing of single therapies, according to the WHO. They hope the official report will convince these companies and agencies to change their position.

"It's a matter of persistence," says Bosman.
www.nature.com/news/2006/060515/full/...

[verwijderd] 26 mei 2006 09:26

0

May 23, 2006 - 9:59 PM
Novartis launches anti-malaria alliance

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis is spearheading a new public-private partnership aimed at discovering a new generation of malaria treatments.
The Wellcome Trust charity, the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), and Geneva-based non-profit organisation Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), will assist in the hunt for a one-dose malaria cure.
Novartis already produces a malaria drug, Coartem, which it provides at cost price to developing countries which suffer an estimated one million deaths a year from malaria.

The Singapore-based Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD) will take the lead in developing new drugs together with the Swiss Tropical Institute and other institutions. The firm will provide industry expertise and open up its extensive library of compounds to its partners.

"We are in an industry where diseases and human beings are at the centre of our work," said Novartis chairman and chief executive Daniel Vasella.

"Having been criticised in the past for not funding neglected diseases, our industry has a strong purpose to play an active role in society."

MMV president Chris Hentschel said the public-private partnership presented the best way of including profit minded companies in a non-profit project.

"Malaria does not create an industry [for pharmaceuticals] because it affects the poor and children," he said. "And public sector research rarely ends up with products."

"Because of that we must come up with other mechanisms to engage industry. The public-private partnership is a remedy that produces a tangible outcome."

The Wellcome Trust has already invested $300 million (SFr362 million) into basic malaria research and, together with the EDB and MMV, will inject a further $20 million into the project.
Logistics
But another issue the partnership must tackle is overcoming the problem of getting drugs to patients in developing countries.

"It is not all about having a new molecule, but it has to reach the patient in a way that they can use it," NITD chairman Paul Herrling told swissinfo.

"That implies distribution and knowing the culture in these countries. Our partners have people in the field who know the patients and the environment. Our different skills have to come together to have a successful outcome."

The main reason the partnership wants to find a single course malaria cure is to make it easier for patients who often fail to complete a multiple course of drugs.

But Vasella also pointed the finger at some governments in affected countries for not doing enough to ensure supply to malaria sufferers.

"There is a tendency for governments to shift the responsibility for delivering drug supplies on to the private sector," he said.

"We can contribute, but we can't solve the problems of education and supply. Governments must make sure treatments go to the right people."

swissinfo, Matthew Allen in Basel
www.swissinfo.org/eng/front/detail/No...

[verwijderd] 28 mei 2006 12:25

0

Malaria, Potato Famine Pathogen Share Surprising Trait

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry News
Article Date: 28 May 2006 - 0:00am (PDT)

Two wildly different pathogens - one that infects vegetables, the other infecting humans - essentially use the same protein code to get their disease-causing proteins into the cells of their respective hosts.

That's what researchers from Ohio State and Northwestern universities report in a study published in the current issue of the journal PLoS Pathogens. The scientists were surprised to learn that the pathogen that causes malaria in humans and the microbe that caused the Irish potato famine use identical protein signals to start an infection.

"I don't think anyone expected this," said Sophien Kamoun, a study co-author and an associate professor of plant pathology at Ohio State's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster. "These are very different pathogens, and we never realized that there might be some similarities between them."

Kamoun says not to worry - there's no chance that the potato pathogen will jump to humans, nor is it likely that the malaria parasite will start infecting plants.

However, he said it's feasible to think that one day researchers could develop a drug with a dual purpose - one that would stop both Plasmodium falciparum, which causes malaria, and Phytophthora infestans, the microbe that triggers late potato blight in vegetables including potatoes, soybeans and tomatoes.

"It sounds crazy, but it's not totally ridiculous to consider such a drug," said Kamoun, who is an expert on the Phytophthora group of pathogens. He conducted the study with lead author Kasturi Haldar, of Northwestern, and with colleagues from both Ohio State and Northwestern.

Each year, malaria kills more than one million people - mostly young African children - and Phytophthora pathogens devastate a wide range of food and commercial crops.

The researchers swapped a small sequence of proteins, called the leader sequence, in P. falciparum with the leader sequence of P. infestans. A leader sequence is a group of about 20 to 30 amino acids on a protein secreted by the parasite. This sequence contains instructions on how to enter, and therefore start infecting, a plant or animal cell.

In laboratory experiments, the researchers infected human red blood cells with the modified malarial pathogen.

Results showed that malaria proteins could just as effectively enter and infect a cell when it contained the P. infestans leader sequence instead of its own.

"Our findings show that very distinct microbes can share similar strategies for delivering toxic proteins to their targets," Kamoun said.

About a year and a half ago, Kamoun and his group at Ohio State read studies conducted by the Northwestern researchers that described the leader sequence of the malaria parasite. The similarity between this and the leader sequence of P. infestans was remarkable, he said.

"So we decided to collaborate and see if the sequences were not just similar, but also functionally the same," he said. "It turned out that they were. But although the mechanism of getting virulence proteins into a host cell is very similar, the infection-causing proteins that are delivered to a host are completely different."

To Kamoun's knowledge, this is the first paper to show that such dissimilar pathogens of this type - both are eukaryotic organisms - share a remarkably similar trait. He and his colleagues aren't sure how to explain this phenomenon, as these pathogens belong to distinctly different evolutionary groups.

This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and by a National Science Foundation's Plant Genome grant.

Sophien Kamoun
Kamoun.1@osu.edu
Ohio State University
researchnews.osu.edu
www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews....
*****************
pathogens.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?...

[verwijderd] 7 juni 2006 08:19

0

RTS,S
And the search for a malaria vaccine

By Joe Cohen | Posted: Friday, June 02, 2006

Few scientists ever have the chance to see their daily work transformed into new medicines or vaccines that have the potential to save millions of lives. It is mind boggling to think that I may be one of the lucky few.
Indeed, earlier this year, I went with other scientists to visit the construction site for the plant that is destined to produce millions of doses of the malaria vaccine, known as RTS,S. For the past 20 years, I have been closely involved in the development of this vaccine of which I am one of the inventors.

This vaccine made history last year when the scientific journal The Lancet published the results of a clinical trial that proved it was effective for at least 18 months in reducing clinical malaria by 35 percent and severe malaria by 49 percent, in a study that involved about 2000 Mozambican children. If all goes well, this vaccine could be licensed as early as 2011-2012, and the new production plant in Belgium should be ready to begin supplying millions of doses each year to children in many of Africa's poorest countries.

As the world commemorates Africa Malaria Day, it is necessary to consider how important a step this vaccine may be, but also to recognize how many challenges remain. Malaria kills between one and three million people each year, mostly young African children, and is among the world's leading causes of childhood mortality. Malaria also robs Africa of crucial resources necessary for development - as much as US$12 billion each year in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity, a sum that is roughly equivalent to all the foreign aid that flows into Africa each year.

For too long, the world has considered a malaria vaccine as some kind of "pie in the sky." In the light of the recent scientific breakthrough resulting from the successful RTS,S clinical trial, we must rethink our views on the feasibility of vaccination against malaria. Now is the time for the world to start thinking about how to use the RTS,S vaccine with other existing or soon to be implemented malaria prevention tools such as insecticide treated bed nets, indoor pesticide spraying, and intermittent prospective treatment of infants (IPTi).

International organizations need to begin preparing demand forecasts, national agencies need to lay the groundwork so this vaccine can be approved as quickly as possible and introduced into national disease control strategies. Fundamentally, all people across Africa and the industrialized world need to begin building political support to ensure the resources, both financial and infrastructural, are in place to ensure that this vaccine reaches every child who needs it.

It will take a few more years to license the malaria vaccine, but we don't have to wait that long to start saving lives. Many countries are already far behind on immunizing children against diseases such as measles, rotavirus and Haemophilus influenzae type b disease, for which vaccines already exist.

Immunization is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions in history, yet funding for vaccines is only a fraction of what it needs to be. A recent report by the research group SmartPharma published in the journal Vaccine found that just doubling the money the world spends on vaccines could reduce vaccine-preventable deaths by half in five years. This will translate into millions of lives saved.

And that is only by providing vaccines that already exist. Major scientific hurdles need to be overcome if we are to develop effective vaccines for other diseases such as HIV/AIDS and TB that are devastating the developing world. We are committed, working in partnership, to address these challenges.

However, billions of dollars more will be needed to fund the development and purchase of these vaccines. New types of long-term financing that are currently making headlines, sponsored by forward thinking governments, could mean a positive overhaul of the short-term funding and aid mechanisms traditionally used. These new institutions include the UK-sponsored International Financing Facility for Immunisation and the G8-sponsored Advance Market Commitment for vaccines.

But financing for R&D and purchase is only part of the problem. Improving health in the developing world is a complex challenge. In many countries, major investment is required in healthcare infrastructure - hospitals, clinics, distribution networks - not only for immunization, but to provide daily healthcare. In particular, how these new vaccines will be introduced in low income countries and how long it will take regulatory authorities to approve them are two other hurdles that need to be overcome in order for these vaccines to get to the people who need them most as quickly as possible.

As excited as I was to tour our malaria vaccine manufacturing facility last year, I am sure that feeling will pale in comparison to how I will feel when the first dose of the vaccine is given to a child. It is heartening to think that the biggest challenge facing a malaria vaccine today is not scientific, but logistical.

Over the next few years, the world needs to move quickly so the production of the RTS,S vaccine can be scaled up so it is available to the 75 million babies born in Africa each year. On Africa Malaria Day this year, we should be proud of how far we have come, but also humbled and inspired by how much work remains to rid the world of malaria.

Joe Cohen is the inventor of the RTS,S malaria vaccine and Vice President of R & D, Vaccines for Emerging Diseases & HIV for GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals.

www.accra-mail.com/mailnews.asp?id=16773

[verwijderd] 7 juni 2006 23:24

1

Battling Malaria: Strengthening the U.S. Military Malaria Vaccine Program (2006)

OCR for page 39
THE U.S. MILITARY MALARIA VACCINE R&D PROGRAM--SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS 39 TABLE 4-2 Portfolio of Candidate Malaria Vaccines Under Development by the MIDRP Malaria Vaccine Program Preclinic In Adults In Children al GMP IND Candidate Vaccines Partners Research developm Prod Filing 1a 2a 1b 2b 1b 2b Sporozoite-Based Vaccines RTS,S/AS02A GSK RTS,S/AS01B GSK FY07 FY08 Adenovirus35 CS Crucell/NIAID FY06 Ad35CS+RTS,S/AS01B prime-boost Crucell/GSK/NIAID FY06 FY07 FY07 PfCSP DNA / MVA CSP (MVA.CSO) prime-boost NIAID/Oxford U. * FY06 * * FY06 RTS,S/AS02A + MVA CS GSK/Oxford/WRAIR * * * No Go RTS,S/AS02A + DNA CS GSK No Go RTS,S/AS02A + TRAP GSK No Go Liver-Stage Vaccines LSA-1/3D7 (FMP011)/AS02A GSK/MVI FY06 FY06 FY06 LSA-1/3D7 (PMF011)/AS01B GSK/MVI FY06 FY06 FY06 Next-generation Antigens FY06 FY07 Blood-Stage (asexual) Vaccines MSP-1 = Merozoite Surface Protein MSP-1 42-kDa 3D7 (FMP1)/AS02A GSK/USAID/MVI MSP-1 42-kDa FVO (FMP010)/AS01B GSK/USAID FY06 FY06 FY06 MSP-1 42-kDa FVO (FMP010)/AS02A GSK/USAID FY06 FY06 AMA-1 = Apical Membrane Antigen AMA-1 3D7 (FMP2.1)/AS02A GSK/USAID/MVI FY06 FY06 FY07 AMA-1 3D7 (FMP2.1)/AS01B GSK/USAID/MVI FY06 FY06 FY06 AMA-1 FVO (FMP009)/AS02A GSK/USAID FY06 FY07 FY07 AMA-1 FVO (FMP009)/AS01B GSK/USAID FY06 FY07 Multistage (pre-erythrocytic + blood) Vaccines Two antigen (CSP + MSP-1) RTS,S/AS02A + FMP1 (MSP-1 42-kDa 3D7) GSK/USAID Two antigen (CSP + AMA-1) NMRC-M3V-Ad5-PfCA (Ad alone) USAID/GenVec FY06 FY06 FY07 FY07 NMRC-M3V-DAd-PfCA (DNA prime/Ad boost) Vical/GenVec FY07 FY07 NMRC-M3V-M-PfCA (MVA alone) FY06 NMRC-M3V-AdM-PfCA (Ad prime/MVA boost) GenVec FY07 Five antigen (CSP + SSP2/TRAP + LSA-1 + AMA-1 + MSP-1) NMRC-M3V-DCRL1005-PfCSLAM (CRL-1005-formulated DNA) Vical No Go NMRC-M3V-DVAX-PfCSLAM (Vaxfectin-formulated DNA) Vical FY06 NMRC-M3V-Ad-PfCSLAM GenVec FY06 FY07 Multiantigen second-generation Ad5 MVI, GenVec FY06 NMRC-M3V-M-PfCSLAM (MVA) FY06 NMRC-M3V-V-PfCSLAM (Replicons) FY07 CSLAM prime-boost Combinations Multiantigen Multiepitope string (DNA) Epimmune FY06 Attentuated Organism Vaccines Irradiated Sporozoites Sanaria FY06 FY06 FY07 FY07 FY07 FY08 FY08 Knock-Out Sporozoites GCGH/SBRI FY06 FY06 FY07 FY07 FY07 * Under UK regulatory authority. Done/Completed 1a & 2 a = studies in nonendemic areas. Planned 1b & 2 b = studies in endemic area. Plan to be determined--pending further information/data. No further plans for development by DoD SOURCE: Heppner, 2006; Richie, 2006; Vaughn, 2006
OCR for page 40
40 BATTLING MALARIA Gene-Based Vaccines and Prime-Boost Approaches The NMRC group is focused on gene-based vaccines with a wide-ranging and diverse program. They are pursuing several specific strategies of DNA-based constructs. These revolve around the group of sequences known as CSLAM (CSP, SSP-2/TRAP, LSA-1, AMA-1, MSP-1) that were down-selected from a much larger group of DNA sequences previously included in the earlier MustDo vaccine, which failed to show immunogenicity in human trials in Ghana. Antigen interference is suspected as part of the reason for that failure, and therefore noninterfering anti- gens were selected based on data from animal models. The following are the specific subunit approaches: · Plasmid DNA (five plasmids each encoding one of the CSLAM antigens) in collaboration with Vical, using novel adjuvants such as Vaxfectin, either alone or as prime for subse- quent boost for viral constructs (below) · Adenovirus 5 vectors in collaboration with GenVec, with two to five antigen sequences (CSLAM or some of its constituent antigens) used in DNA priming and vector boosting · Poxvirus vectors used in a similar way to adenovirus 5 vectors and containing the same antigens · Virus replicon particles in collaboration with Alphavax · Viral priming followed by recombinant protein boosting, in collaboration with the NIH Malaria Vaccine Development Unit and WRAIR · Multiepitope vaccines (T- and B-cell epitopes in viral vectors that bind to multiple HLA types, removed from surrounding unnecessary sequences) in collaboration with EpiIm- mune The NMRC has immediate plans for a phase 1 clinical trial of the adenovirus 5/CSP + AMA- 1 construct in U.S. volunteers in the near future, followed by trials of different prime-boost com- binations of DNA and adenovirus 5 constructs for CSP/AMA-1. The WRAIR scientists have also been investigating heterologous prime-boost regimens, in which different immunogens are used for prime versus boost, to further optimize immune re- sponses. WRAIR is collaborating with Crucell in exploring use of Ad35 virus expressing CSP to boost RTS,S primed responses (although these studies are contingent on resolving intellectual property issues of both companies). Vaccinia-based prime-boost strategies are also being consid- ered but are not proving to be successful. The above description summarizes the aspects of research, particularly those funded directly by MIDRP Malaria Vaccine Program, that were described to the committee. The program has been very effective in generating additional funds for research that may have different emphases. Antigen Discovery Using Genomics and Proteomics In addition to focusing on empirically defined antigens, both WRAIR and NMRC have initiated antigen discovery programs using genomics and/or proteomics. NMRC has extensively explored algorithms and new methods to identify and express potential candidates for preclinical studies. At least one new preerythrocytic antigen (AgX) recognized by cells from sporozoite- challenged volunteers has been identified by these methods.
darwin.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id...
darwin.nap.edu/books/0309101689/html/...

Bijlage:

[verwijderd] 13 juni 2006 10:30

1

Immune Factors Used To Fight Malaria Parasite And Infectious Pathogens

Main Category: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses News
Article Date: 12 Jun 2006 - 2:00am (PDT)

Mosquitoes employ the same immune factors to fight off bacterial pathogens as they do to kill malaria-causing Plasmodium parasites, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study identified several genes that encode proteins of the mosquito's immune system. All of the immune genes that were involved in limiting infection by the malaria parasites were also important for the resistance to bacterial infection. However, several immune genes that were essential for resistance to bacterial infection did not affect Plasmodium infection. According to the authors, the findings add to the understanding of mosquito immunity, and could contribute towards the development of malaria-control strategies based on blocking the parasite in the mosquito. The study is published in the June 2006, edition of PloS Pathogens.

"Mosquitoes that transmit malaria can kill large portions of Plasmodium parasites, and some mosquito strains are totally resistant to Plasmodium. However, our observations suggest that mosquitoes have not evolved a highly-specific defense against malaria parasites. Instead, they employ factors of their antimicrobial defense system to combat the Plasmodium parasite," said George Dimopoulos, Ph.D., senior author of the study and assistant professor with the Bloomberg School's Malaria Research Institute. "The degree of mosquito susceptibility to Plasmodium, and thereby its capacity to transmit malaria, may therefore partly depend on the mosquito's microbial exposure, which can differ greatly between different geographic sites. Potentially, we could boost the mosquito's capacity to fight the malaria parasite by exposing it to certain microbes or compounds that resemble the microbe molecules responsible for immune activation."

In this study, the investigators also analyzed the immune responses of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes to infection with different Plasmodium parasite species, one that causes malaria in humans and another that only infects rodents. The study revealed that mosquitoes mostly employ the same immune factors in defending against the two different Plasmodium species. Only a few immune genes were more important in the defense against either one of the two species.

"The mosquito's immune system appears to employ a variety of antimicrobial defense factors (genes) against the malaria parasite, and can therefore significantly limit infection. The parasite, on the other hand, is capable of evading these defenses to a degree that allows its transmission by the mosquito. Now we have to figure out how to make the mosquito's immune system more effective in killing malaria parasites at multiple stages that would render the development of evasive mechanisms impossible for the parasite," said Dimopoulos.

###

Contact: Tim Parsons
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews....

[verwijderd] 14 juni 2006 12:39

0

London firm helps deliver measles vaccine in developing countries

Tue, June 13, 2006
Patients to get it free of charge
By NORMAN DE BONO, LONDON FREE PRESS BUSINESS REPORTER

The World Health Organization is using a made-in-London solution to deliver measles vaccination in Third World countries — and they’re getting it free of charge.
The WHO is now testing a new, inhaler-style vaccine-delivery system designed and manufactured by Trudell Medical International to battle one of the top killers in developing nations, Mark Pickard, Trudell vice-president and general manager, said Tuesday.
“We never think about measles in this country but 1,200 people a day die from it in developing countries, many of them children, and that is a shocking statistic. We have a device here that can help prevent that and we are very excited about it,” said Pickard.
The inhaler-style delivery system uses an aerosol that a person breathes in, not a needle or injection, making it far less costly and easier to deliver to youths nervous about getting a shot, added Pickard.
“Our device is unique. One vial of vaccine delivered with a needle can inoculate five children, our system can do 30 children,” he said.

After delivering the measles vaccine, Trudell will then turn its attention to offering the system for malaria vaccination and then other diseases as needed.

lfpress.ca/newsstand/Business/2006/06...

AEX 923,36 +4,69 +0,51% 17:47


Germany40^	18.650,60	+0,40%
BEL 20	3.916,97	+0,26%
EURO50	5.069,31	+0,27%
US30^	38.861,50	+0,15%
Nasd100^	19.023,30	-0,02%
US500^	5.350,53	-0,06%
Japan225^	38.698,40	-0,69%
Gold spot	2.378,56	+0,98%
EUR/USD	1,0883	+0,11%
WTI	75,45	+1,78%

ASR Nederland	+2,75%
BESI	+2,72%
RENEWI	+1,68%
ABN AMRO BANK...	+1,54%
Alfen N.V.	+1,37%

FASTNED	-2,86%
NX FILTRATION	-2,43%
VIVORYON THER...	-2,26%
Basic-Fit	-1,79%
PostNL	-1,67%

Crucell « Terug naar discussie overzicht

draadje Malaria

Meedoen aan de discussie?

Direct naar Forum

Markt vandaag

Aandelenadviezen van IEX.nl

Stijgers

Dalers