Mosquitoes ( incl. Zika, West Nile Virus, Dengue etc )

[winston]

Here’s Why We Don’t Have A Vaccine For Zika (And Other Mosquito-Borne Viruses)

Due to the previously low impact of the virus and the estimated US$160-500 million it costs to develop a vaccine, Zika vaccine has not been on the radar.

Other severe and potentially fatal mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, and West Nile virus affect millions of people each year and have been a higher priority.

Source: IFL Science

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-me ... e-viruses/

[winston]

Takeda joins effort to develop Zika vaccine with U.S. funding

By Bill Berkrot

Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co (4502.T) on Thursday said it is developing a vaccine to prevent the Zika virus, which has been linked to severe birth defects, and has secured funding from a U.S. government agency.

Takeda, which is also working on vaccines for other mosquito-borne viruses such as dengue, said it would initially receive nearly $20 million over the next 18 months to fund pre-clinical research and manufacturing in preparation for early human trials.

The contract is with BARDA, the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a unit within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It calls for funding of up to $312 million if the agency deems the vaccine worthy of moving through late stage testing and filing for approval, the company said.

Takeda has been conducting preclinical testing for several months and hopes to begin Phase I trials in healthy volunteers in the second half of 2017, Rajeev Venkayya, head of global vaccines for Takeda, said in a telephone interview.

The company said it was also in discussions with the Japanese government on its possible participation in the Zika collaboration.

The Takeda vaccine will utilize inactivated, or killed, whole Zika virus to promote an immune response, Venkayya said. The vaccines now in early human testing are DNA-based and contain no actual virus.

"To help protect people from Zika in the U.S. and abroad, we are aggressively pursuing the development of promising vaccine candidates around the world," Richard Hatchett, acting director of BARDA said in a statement.

BARDA said that including the Takeda funding, it has so far committed $76 million to help develop Zika vaccines, diagnostics, blood screening tests and other technologies to fight the virus.

Takeda joins several companies and government agencies in efforts to develop a vaccine against the virus that has spread across the Americas since the current outbreak was first detected last year in Brazil.

In recent weeks, U.S. authorities determined that local mosquitoes were transmitting Zika in an area of south Florida, while the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico has experienced a widespread outbreak.

More recently, Singapore identified a local outbreak.

On Thursday, officials in Florida said they had trapped in the Miami area the first mosquitoes that tested positive for Zika in the continental United States.

There is an urgent need to develop a vaccine for the virus, which in pregnant women can cause the rare birth defect microcephaly. This can lead to serious developmental problems, and has been linked to severe fetal brain abnormalities.

While the virus is primarily transmitted by mosquitoes, Zika can also be transmitted through unprotected sex with an infected person.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO.O) and the U.S. National Institutes of Health have already begun human trials of vaccine candidates.

Source: Reuters

[winston]

Zika Product Pipeline

Source: WHO

http://www.who.int/csr/research-and-dev ... peline.pdf

[winston]

Aug 25, 2016

4 Stocks for Fighting Zika

With a new Zika case now confirmed on Florida's East Coast, here's four stocks investors should consider as concerns about the virus reach an all-time high

by Donald Dion

Source: The Street

https://www.thestreet.com/story/1368445 ... -zika.html

[winston]

Kit can test for seven diseases with a drop of blood

by Carolyn Khew

A Singapore-based firm has developed a test that can detect seven major tropical diseases, including Zika and dengue, from just a drop of blood.

The fingernail-size microchip was developed about a year ago by Veredus Laboratories, a Singapore-based medical diagnostics company, according to its press statement yesterday. It can also detect malaria, chikungunya, West Nile, Yellow Fever and Japanese encephalitis.

Dr Rosemary Tan, chief executive officer and founder of Veredus, told The Straits Times that the test has been sold to hospitals, clinical laboratories and organisations in Indonesia and China. Local hospitals have also expressed interest.

Each kit costs about $100, and it takes about two to three hours to identify the pathogen.

"Zika is now becoming very famous in Singapore due to the outbreak, but we developed this chip more than a year ago which can detect different species of malaria, serotypes of dengue, chikungunya and other flaviviruses," said Dr Tan.

Zika and dengue are spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and cause similar symptoms such as fever and joint pain.

As of yesterday, the number of dengue cases this year had exceeded the number for the whole of last year, while the health authorities confirmed 17 new cases of locally transmitted Zika virus infection.

With its capabilities for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and microarray, the chip does away with the need for large machines required by typical diagnostic tests, said Dr Tan.

PCR allows for a single copy of a gene to be copied in the millions so the gene can be analysed, while the microarray is a "library of different virus sequences" that helps to identify the virus.

Veredus research and development director Mitsuharu Sato said: "With the capability of (the diagnostic test) to detect and differentiate malaria, dengue, chikungunya and Zika in high sensitivity and specificity, we are now better equipped to make earlier informed decisions."

Dr Tan said the chip had been tested on different DNA sequences and showed high accuracy and specificity.

Source: Straits Times

[winston]

Zika vaccine race spurred by crisis and profit potential

The prospect of a blockbuster vaccine against a mosquito-borne virus has accelerated the pace of development and attracted the interest of big drugmakers, including Sanofi SA (SASY.PA), GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L) and Takeda Pharmaceuticals (4502.T).

"If you consider just a portion of the U.S. traveler population, we can conservatively envision a Zika market opportunity exceeding $1 billion" a year, said Joseph Kim, chief executive of Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO.O), a Pennsylvania company that is farthest along in the development path with human testing of a vaccine candidate underway in hard hit Puerto Rico.

Sanofi's dengue vaccine, approved in nine countries, is generating near-blockbuster expectations, the biggest in the market by far. Analysts forecast annual sales for Dengvaxia reaching about $900 million by 2020, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-healt ... ess%200900

[winston]

Think tanks: Vaccine can save half of Malaysia’s RM735m dengue cost

BY BOO SU-LYN

PETALING JAYA, Oct 25 ― Two think tanks argue that Malaysia can half the estimated [b]US$175.7 million (RM735.3 million) [/b]economic burden of dengue if it approves a vaccine.

He said the dengue vaccine in the Philippines is priced at RM300 per person for all three doses.

The study noted that Dengvaxia manufacturers have acknowledged that the vaccine doesn’t work well on those who haven’t been previously infected with dengue before vaccination.

Source: Malay Mail

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malay ... engue-cost

[winston]

Singapore's dengue cases reach a record 22403, surpassing 2013 high

[winston]

Why Are Some People Mosquito Magnets and Others Unbothered?

A medical entomologist points to metabolism, body odor, and mindset

by Jonathan Day

Mosquitoes are very sensitive to CO2 and can sense a CO2 source that is many meters away.

The human mosquito magnets you spot at summer parties may have a genetically high metabolic rate or may be more physically active than other attendees.

They may also be undertaking other activities that increase their metabolic rate, such as the consumption of alcohol.

Increased metabolic rate is why runners attract more mosquitoes during their cooldown stretching exercises.

Pregnant women, perhaps due to their increased metabolic rate, attract a disproportionately large number of mosquitoes as well.

Wearing lighter colors may not just help keep you cool, but will help you evade a mosquito’s notice.

Source: Epoch Times

https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/wh ... OoSHnzM%3D