NEWS
By Jonathan Bor | December 19, 2007
Flu season is officially here. Although there's no indication that the season is shaping up to be a severe one, Baltimore's health commissioner, Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, said yesterday that doctors are reporting increasing numbers of patients with flulike symptoms. In a new system designed to keep the public informed, Sharfstein elevated the city's level of flu awareness from "Minimal Flu" to "Flu Alert," which means there's evidence the virus is spreading. Now is the time, he said, for people to make sure they are vaccinated.
BUSINESS
By Bloomberg News | April 17, 2007
Billionaire investor Carl C. Icahn dropped his plans to propose an opposing slate of directors for the board of Gaithersburg-based MedImmune Inc., noting the biotechnology company's decision to seek a buyer. Icahn, in an e-mail statement yesterday, said he urged MedImmune "several weeks ago" to put the company up for sale. He also said at the time that he intended to nominate directors at the 2007 annual meeting "whose intention it would be to accomplish this." In pulling back yesterday, Icahn said he reserved the right to pursue the proxy fight if MedImmune, Maryland's largest biotech company in sales and employment, fails to complete a sale.
BUSINESS
March 6, 2007
Maryland: Biotechnology Iomai vaccine helps with diarrhea Iomai Corp. said yesterday that one of its needle-free vaccine patches lessened the symptoms of traveler's diarrhea. In a mid-stage clinical trial, 27 people were given Iomai's vaccine and another 20 received a placebo. Then they were exposed to "high levels" of enterotoxigenic E. Coli, a common cause of traveler's diarrhea. Those who received the vaccine experienced less severe diarrhea and were less likely to require intravenous fluids than those who did not. The Gaithersburg company plans to launch late-stage clinical trials for the patch, which adheres to the skin, next year.
NEWS
By Dennis O'Brien | May 15, 2007
A flu spray made by Gaithersburg-based MedImmune Inc. is effective for young children, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday, signaling that the company might soon win approval to market the vaccine for use in children younger than 5. Some health experts say FluMist would be a welcome tool in combating the flu because it would help immunize children who could otherwise get the illness and spread it to others. An FDA advisory panel will take up the issue tomorrow, with the expectation that the agency will make a decision before the end of May. Approval could greatly increase sales of the nasal spray vaccine by MedImmune, which agreed last month to be purchased by London-based AstraZeneca PLC for $15.6 billion.
NEWS
By Frank D. Roylance | December 7, 2007
First the flakes, now the flu. That other plague of winter appeared officially in Maryland this week with the first laboratory-confirmed case of Type A influenza. The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported yesterday that its lab has isolated the flu bug in a specimen from an unidentified person living in metropolitan Baltimore. Last year's first flu report came much earlier, on Oct. 31. But the later start to this year's flu season is not significant, said health department spokesman John Hammond.
NEWS
By McClatchy-Tribune | January 12, 2007
Doctors are hoping to prevent even more cases of chickenpox by urging that children routinely get two shots against varicella instead of just one. Recommendations released last week by the American Academy of Pediatrics call for children to get a second dose of the varicella vaccine between the ages of 4 and 6. Previous guidelines from the national group called for 1-year-olds to receive a single dose of the vaccine against varicella, the virus that...
FEATURES
By Holly Selby | August 16, 2007
As the first day of school approaches, parents are checking to make sure their children are up to date on their vaccines. By the time Maryland children enter kindergarten, they are required to have been vaccinated against 11 diseases -- diphtheria, pertussis, Hib (haemophilus influenza), pneumococcus, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis and chicken pox. And, this year, both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics are recommending that children receive four new vaccines: a booster for chicken pox, rotavirus, hepatitis A and the human papillomavirus, says Julie Yeh, assistant chair of pediatrics at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center.
NEWS
By ELLEN GOODMAN | March 2, 2007
BOSTON -- Hasn't anyone ever told drug companies to put a warning label on their lobbying? You know, the kind you find on every little prescription bottle? "Caution: Too much lobbying may result in an overdose of suspicion. Push too hard and you may experience political acid reflux." As it is, Merck seems to have rolled a million - or many millions - into a shoestring. And the real losers may be girls and women who need access to the vaccine against cervical cancer. Let's return to that magical moment when clinical trials proved that a new vaccine was nearly 100 percent effective in preventing two strains of the human papillomavirus that causes most cervical cancer.
NEWS
December 13, 2007
ATLANTA -- More than a million doses of a common vaccine given to babies as young as 2 months were being recalled yesterday because of contamination risks, but the top U.S. health official said it was not a health threat. The recall is for 1.2 million doses of the vaccine for Hib, which protects against meningitis, pneumonia and other serious infections, and a combination vaccine for Hib and hepatitis B. The vaccine is recommended for all children under age 5 and is usually given in a three-shot series, starting at 2 months.
NEWS
By Jonathan Bor | November 10, 2007
Manufacturers are on track to produce and ship more flu vaccine than ever before, averting the fears of a shortage that have marked recent flu seasons, federal health authorities said yesterday. With the supply virtually assured, officials of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged all Americans who want flu vaccinations to get them. In particular, they recommend innoculation for infants over 6 months of age, pregnant women, adults with asthma, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic illnesses, as well as all adults 50 and older.