August 2015

Tests of the experimental Ebola vaccine VSV-ZEBOV in over 7500 participants in Guinea suggest that the vaccine provides high protection against the disease as early as ten days after vaccination, in adults who have potentially been exposed to the virus by coming in close contact with a recently infected person.

USFDA rejected Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company’s Application for its new anti-glaucoma eye drops. The product is to be manufactured at Sun Pharmaceutical Industries’ Halol facility. USFDA has indicated that a satisfactory resolution of the current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) deficiencies at this facility is a prerequisite for the final approval of Xelpros.

Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) recently launched online services to accept submission for Market Development Assistance (MDA) and Market Development Initiative (MDI) claims.This move is aimed at delivering not only hassle-free timely services to the members.

Nutech Mediworld, the world’s only human embryonic stem cell therapy centre based in India, announced that its human embryonic stem cell (hESC) technology developed by Dr Geeta Shroff has received 66th patent in Malaysia for the treatment of various medical conditions.  
The technology differentiates itself from other stem cell therapies in three major ways. Firstly, it has universal application, i.e. anyone and everyone can take these cells without the need for matching. Secondly, it is available in a ready to use form with a shelf life of 6 months &  can be transported easily. Thus is not clinic based. Thirdly, it has an easy non-invasive delivery mechanism and can be administered in the simple form of an injection. Due to these qualities it has the potential to be made readily available in pharmacies across the world, much like insulin.

The European Food Standards Authority has warned that people who eat a lot of rice, are exposed to worrying concentrations. Chronic exposure to inorganic arsenic has been linked to developmental problems, heart disease, diabetes, nervous system damage, and cancer. Researchers in Northern Ireland have now found a way to remove the inorganic arsenic by cooking rice the way coffee is brewed.

In a finding that could lead to the first effective therapies and vaccines against dengue, scientists have determined the structure of a human antibody which can fight the deadly virus. Researchers at Vanderbilt University and the National University of Singapore determined the structure of the human monoclonal antibody which, in an animal model, strongly neutralises a type of the potentially lethal dengue virus.