Military makes progress on dengue jab

John Carroll — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:21:09 -0500

Military scientists have been hard at work in Thailand developing a new vaccine to combat dengue fever. For the U.S. military, the prime motivation is protecting the troops from a disease that has afflicted American soldiers as recently as the ‘90s. But if they're successful in getting a new vaccine that can be commercialized by the middle of the next decade, they'll also save people from a disease that hospitalizes half a million a year.

"All we care about is that we get a vaccine that protects soldiers," Lt. Col. Stephen J. Thomas, a medical doctor who is director of dengue vaccine development in the Bangkok laboratory, told the New York Times, "Fortunately a lot of our concerns are also global health concerns."

And just down the street from the military's lab, Sanofi-Aventis and a local university are working on a separate vaccine that also has raised hopes of near-term vaccine.

"We're further along with the dengue vaccine than we've ever been," said Duane J. Gubler, director of the emerging infectious diseases department of the Duke-N.U.S. Graduate Medical School in Singapore. "There's a good possibility that we'll have a vaccine in five to seven years."

- read the article in the New York Times

ALSO: Vical said that that the Naval Medical Research Center plans to conduct preclinical and Phase I evaluation of a dengue DNA vaccine formulated with the company's Vaxfectin adjuvant and delivered with the Biojector 2000 needle-free injection system. Release

Brazilian Dengue outbreak highlights vaccine need

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:59:55 -0400

An outbreak of dengue fever in and around Rio de Janeiro has afflicted more than 75,000 people since the beginning of the year, with 12 people dying in just the past week. No vaccine is available for the disease, leaving health officials to house patients in a tent city of the sick as they call in the military to help fumigate areas in an attempt to eradicate the mosquitoes that carry the disease. Rio Governor Sergio Cabral says he may also ask Cuba to help by dispatching doctors to treat the ill.

Hawaii Biotech, meanwhile, has garnered a million dollar grant to move an experimental dengue vaccine into the clinic. Hawaii Biotech's dengue vaccine program has attracted $10 million in grants over the past five years. This latest grant is coming from the Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative of the Seoul-based International Vaccine Institute, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

- check out this report
- read the Star Bulletin article on Hawaii Biotech

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Dengue fever

Military makes progress on dengue jab

Brazilian Dengue outbreak highlights vaccine need