Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Drugmakers work together

Two drugmakers, Crucell NV and GlaxoSmithKline PLC, "will work together on a new malaria vaccine composed of two drugs", which they previously were developing separately.

According to Crucell, "malaria kills about 900,000 people a year, making it one of the deadliest diseases in the world."

The companies worked together "to research a Crucell vaccine in preclinical studies, and want to begin testing their combined vaccine on humans. They said the preclinical research shows the drugs may work better together than they do separately."

"The experimental vaccine combines a GlaxoSmithKline vaccine", called RTS,S/AS, with a developing vaccine by Crucell, which "involves placing a section of genetic material from a virus or parasite into larger 'vehicle' particle similar to the virus that causes the common cold. Crucell says that creates immunity to the disease, and works better against severe infectious diseases than older methods of vaccine creation".

Source:
Associated Press. "Crucell and Glaxo will combine malaria vaccines." Via Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/04/06/business-health-care-us-crucell-glaxosmithkline_7490454.html

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