Appili Therapeutics Inc. and its partner Vitalex Biosciences LLC have announced that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded up to $40 million in funding to support the development of VXV-01, a vaccine aimed at protecting against invasive fungal infections.
Human rhinovirus (HRV) is the most frequent cause of upper respiratory infections and a key trigger of asthma exacerbations. No effective anti-HRV therapies exist, and vaccine efforts have been unsuccessful due to its extreme genetic and antigenic diversity, with over 160 known serotypes.
Around the globe, fungal infections affect more than 1 billion people and account for several million deaths every year. They pose a particular problem in low- and middle-income countries, where antifungal drugs may be less available and, even if available, may prove ineffective because of fungal resistance. These considerations highlight the need for a next generation of antifungals.
GC Biopharma Corp. has filed an IND application with the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) for a phase I trial of GC-4006A, an mRNA vaccine candidate for COVID-19.
Globally, over half of people living with HIV are women. But in clinical cure trials, they make up only about 20% of participants. And that gender imbalance is causing researchers to miss out on ways to improve cure strategies. Because women’s immune systems appear to be better at controlling HIV infection in a way that silences the reservoir – the provirus integrated into host cells in infected persons.
The FDA has cleared HDT Bio Corp.’s IND application for HDT-321, a first-in-class prophylactic designed to protect against Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF).
Invasive fungal infections pose a significant global health challenge due to their severity and the scarcity of effective and safe treatment options. Unlike antibacterial drug development, creating new antifungals is especially challenging because fungal and human cells share a eukaryotic structure, highlighting the need for innovative treatment strategies.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded a 5-year $20.8 million grant to a multi-institutional team led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators for advanced preclinical development of a promising experimental HIV vaccine.
Nipah virus (NiV) and Hendra virus (HeV) are highly pathogenic henipaviruses that cause severe respiratory and neurological disease in humans, often with high fatality rates. To date, NiV has caused 749 cases across nine countries with 43%-100% fatality rates, while HeV infections are fewer but similarly lethal (57%).
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