The new H1N1 virus is only distantly related to its nearest relatives, suggesting that its genes may have been circulating undetected in pig populations for some time, according to new research published online by the journal Science. Scientists also confirm the novel status of the virus, noting that it contains a combination of gene segments that has never been reported before.
Read more ...
Recognition for inventors in the fight against disease
The fight against leukaemia and malaria - two of the world's most virulent diseases - was rewarded in two out of the four categories at the recent European Inventor of the Year awards. Swiss medicinal chemist Dr Jürg Zimmermann along with US oncologist Dr Brian Druker won the award in the Industry category for his invention of the drug Glivec. Glivec has a 98% remission rate in people suffering from chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) - a rare form of leukaemia that affects about 10,000 people every year.
Read more ...
Details of First Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Projects Released
The European Commission has released details of the first projects to receive support under the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Joint Technology Initiative (JTI). The 15 projects will share a EUR 246 million funding pot. EUR 110 million of this will come from the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), while the pharmaceutical industry will provide the remaining EUR 136 million through in kind contributions (e.g. staff, laboratory facilities, materials and clinical research).
Read more ...
New technology could lead to safer gene therapy
EU-funded scientists have developed a new, non-viral way of getting genes into a cell. The technique appears to avoid the side-effects, such as cancer, which can occur when viruses are used to smuggle genes into a cell. The scientists hope their discovery will 'simplify the way gene therapy is conducted, improve its overall safety and reduce the costs'.
Read more ...
Breakthrough on the cause of bacterial infections
European researchers have identified 39 proteins that interact with bacterial toxins in infected human cells, amounting to significant progress in understanding bacterial infection sources. The discovery, funded in part by the EU through the 'Interaction proteome' project, may open up new treatment targets for human illnesses in the future. The study is published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe.
Read more ...
Effectiveness of malaria drug varies throughout Africa
An international study of malaria led by researchers in the UK shows that the effectiveness of the widely used anti-malaria drug sulfadoxine may vary widely across Africa because malaria parasites in different parts of the continent have developed different resistance mutations to the drug.
Read more ...
Tobacco gets new, healthy image
Tobacco use triggers a number of common diseases in humans including heart disease and lung cancer. However, a group of scientists from Europe may be tobacco's saving grace. They successfully used genetically modified tobacco plants to generate medicines for a number of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The study was part of the Pharma-Planta project, which was funded under the EU's Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) to the tune of EUR 12 million. The study's results were recently published in the open access journal BMC Biotechnology.
Read more ...