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Global Trial of BioNTech’s mRNA-Based Lung Cancer Vaccine Launches
Inside Precision Medicine reported:
A lung cancer patient at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) was the first to receive a novel mRNA-based vaccine designed to prime the immune system to fight cancer cells very specifically.
The BioNTech immunotherapy (BNT116) is being studied in a worldwide lung cancer trial. The National Institute for Health Research UCLH Clinical Research Facility
(NIHR UCLH) is the lead research site.
UCLH consultant medical oncologist Siow Ming Lee, Ph.D., who leads the national study said, “Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, with an estimated 1.8 million deaths in 2020.” He added, “We are now entering this very exciting new era of mRNA-based immunotherapy clinical trials.”
The Phase I clinical trial of BNT116 has launched in 34 research sites in seven countries: the U.K., U.S., Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain and Turkey.
Gates Grants $3,800,000 to Develop Ready-to-Use mRNA RSV Vaccine
Precision Vaccinations reported:
Immorna Biotherapeutics Inc. today announced that it has received a $3.8 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the clinical development of JCXH-108.
JCXH-108 is a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) monovalent vaccine candidate based on Immorna’s proprietary mRNA and “Ready-to-Use” lipid nanoparticle technologies.
The grant provides staged financial support to expedite JCXH-108’s clinical trials and clinical development of the multi-dose vial vaccine, the marketing application in the U.S., and the World Health Organization Pre-Qualification.
As of August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has approved three RSV vaccines and one monoclonal antibody.
Fauci Recovering From West Nile Virus Infection
Dr. Anthony Fauci was expected to fully recover from a West Nile virus infection, a spokeswoman said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former government scientist who was both lauded and criticized for his work on COVID-19, was recently hospitalized with a case of West Nile virus and is recovering at home, according to a spokeswoman for the doctor.
“A full recovery is expected,” the spokeswoman, Jenn Kuzmuk, said in a statement on Sunday on behalf of Dr. Fauci, 83, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
She did not elaborate on where he was hospitalized or for how long.
Is Mpox the Next COVID? Infectious Disease Experts Address Pandemic Potential
As mpox (formerly monkeypox) has been declared a global public health emergency, some are wondering whether the virus poses the risk of a COVID-19-like pandemic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the mpox outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern” on Aug. 14, based on a surge of cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and multiple African countries.
As of Aug. 17, there were 545 reports of mpox cases since the outbreak was declared, 474 of which were confirmed, according to data from WHO.
While health officials have expressed concern about the spread of a new strain of the potentially deadly virus, the consensus is that mpox is not likely to become a pandemic like COVID-19 — primarily because it doesn’t spread in the same way.
“Certainly not,” said Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, during a conversation with Fox News Digital.
WHO Launches Plan to Stanch Mpox Transmission and Says the Virus Can Be Stopped
The United Nations (U.N.) health agency on Monday launched a six-month plan to help stanch outbreaks of mpox transmission, including ramping up staffing in affected countries and boosting surveillance, prevention and response strategies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it expects the plan from September through February next year will require $135 million in funding and aims to improve fair access to vaccines, notably in African countries hardest hit by the outbreak.
“The mpox outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries can be controlled, and can be stopped,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement.
The agency is “significantly scaling up staff” in affected countries, it said. In mid-August, WHO classified the current mpox outbreak as a global health emergency.
Massachusetts Towns Battles Rare Eastern Equine Encephalitis Mosquito Virus
A rare but deadly disease spread by mosquitoes has one town in Massachusetts closing its parks and fields each evening. Four other towns are urging people to avoid going outdoors at night.
They’re concerned about eastern equine encephalitis. State health officials announced last week a man in his 80s had caught the disease, the first human case found in Massachusetts since 2020.
The town of Plymouth, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southeast of Boston, announced Friday that it’s closing public outdoor recreation facilities from dusk until dawn each day after a horse in the town was infected with the disease.
Meanwhile, state health officials warned that a cluster of four towns south of Worcester — Douglas, Oxford, Sutton and Webster — are at “critical risk” after a man from Oxford caught the virus.
State and local health officials urged people in those towns to avoid the peak mosquito biting times by finishing outdoor activities by 6 p.m. until Sept. 30 and then by 5 p.m. after that, until the first hard frost.
Polio Vaccines Delivered to Gaza, Israel Says, as Aid Groups Call for Pause in Fighting
Polio vaccines for more than one million people have been delivered to Gaza, Israel’s military said on Sunday after a case of the highly infectious virus was detected there this month.
Aid groups and international organizations called for a pause in fighting to allow for a mass polio vaccination campaign.
Polio was eradicated in Gaza 25 years ago, but vaccine coverage has dropped since the war began last October. The virus was detected in six samples from wastewater in July and the United Nations (U.N.) said last week that a 10-month-old baby was partially paralysed after contracting polio.
It was not immediately clear how the vaccine would be distributed in Gaza, where ongoing fighting has made humanitarian efforts very difficult.
