Scientists at Nagasaki University target rotavirus vaccines
2007 NOV 5 -- A report, 'Rotavirus vaccines: entering a new stage of deployment,' is newly published data in Current Opinion In Infectious Diseases. According to recent research from Nagasaki, Japan, " Rotavirus is the single most important cause of severe diarrhoea in infants and young children. This review provides updated information concerning three rotavirus vaccines that are being evaluated and introduced globally." "Two large, phase III clinical trials, each involving more than 60,000 infants in both developing and developed countries, demonstrated that both RotaTeq (Merck & Co., Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, USA), the pentavalent human-bovine reassortant vaccine, and Rotarix (GlaxoSmithKine Biologicals, Rixensart, Belgium), the monovalent live-attenuated human rotavirus vaccine, are safe with respect to intussusception when the first dose is administered between 6 and 12 weeks of age, and that both vaccines are 90-95% efficacious in preventing severe rotavirus gastroenteritis including hospitalization. The bovine (UK)-human rotavirus reassortant tetravalent (BRV-TV) vaccine, developed at the National Institutes of Health (USA), was licensed for local production in several developing countries. Rotavirus vaccines are entering a new stage of deployment toward the goal of reducing morbidity and mortality attributed to rotavirus infection in developing countries, and hospitalizations and emergency visits caused by rotavirus in developed countries," wrote O. Nakagomi and colleagues, Nagasaki University. The researchers concluded: "High vaccine prices appear to offset cost savings, and may make policymakers even in wealthy countries hesitate to introduce a rotavirus vaccine into their childhood immunization programmes." Nakagomi and colleagues published their study in Current Opinion In Infectious Diseases (Rotavirus vaccines: entering a new stage of deployment. Current Opinion In Infectious Diseases, 2007;20(5):501-7). For additional information, contact O. Nakagomi, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Dept. of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan. Publisher contact information for the journal Current Opinion In Infectious Diseases is: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 530 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19106-3621, USA. Keywords: Japan, Nagasaki, Rotavirus Vaccines, Biotechnology, Clinical Trial Research, Immunization, Pediatrics, Rotavirus Vaccine, Vaccination, Vaccines, Viral, Virus. This article was prepared by Biotech Business Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2007, Biotech Business Week via NewsRx.com.
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