Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) causes chickenpox and shingles, while herpes simplex virus (HSV) is responsible for oral and genital herpes. Although current treatments mainly focus on inhibiting viral replication, there is a critical need for new therapies to address the limitations and side effects associated with existing treatments.

Harvard University has filed a lawsuit claiming the Trump administration’s freezing of its federal funding is unlawful and beyond the government’s authority. Announcing the move, Harvard’s president, Alan Garber, highlighted the impact of freezing $2.2 billion in grants – and the threat to freeze a further $1.1 billion – will have on the university’s biomedical research.

The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and medical research charity Lifearc have announced a collaboration to develop an affordable and accessible monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapeutic for Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV).

After more than three years of discussion, the World Health Organization’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) has agreed on a proposal to prevent, prepare and respond to a pandemic. The plan is born, the INB proposal said, out of inequities around the world that slowed timely and equitable access to health products to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the recent European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) meeting in Vienna, Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics LLC presented data on the neutralizing antibody responses of LHNVD-202, an unconjugated composite peptide vaccine.

Nipah virus, which circulates in fruit bats and other animals primarily in Asia and the South Pacific, causes severe neurological respiratory disease in humans and leads to death in 40%-75% of cases. The virus is endemic in Bangladesh and India, where outbreaks have occurred nearly annually since 2001.