Ebola vaccine is ‘potential game-changer’

A vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus has led to 100% protection and could transform the way Ebola is tackled, preliminary results suggest.

There were no proven drugs or vaccines against the virus at the start of the largest outbreak of Ebola in history, which began in Guinea in December 2013.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the findings, being published in the Lancet, could be a “game-changer”.

Experts said the results were “remarkable”.

This trial centred on the VSV-EBOV vaccine, which was started by the Public Health Agency of Canada and then developed by the pharmaceutical company Merck.

It combined a fragment of the Ebola virus with another safer virus in order to train the immune system to beat Ebola.

A unique clinical trial took place in Guinea. When a patient was discovered, their friends, neighbours and family were vaccinated to create a “protective ring” of immunity.

Analysis

This could be the breakthrough the world has been waiting for.

There is caution as the results are still preliminary, with more data coming in.

But officials at the WHO believe the effectiveness of the vaccine will end up being between 75% and 100%.

If such a vaccine was available 18 months ago then thousands of lives could have been saved.

There are still other vaccines being trialled – notably from GSK and Johnson&Johnson – although as the number of cases continues to fall it is becoming increasingly difficult to prove how effective they are.

Ebola will inevitably come again.

The hope now is that the legacy of this unprecedented outbreak will be a vaccine that means a tragedy of this scale can never be repeated.

One hundred patients were identified in the trial between April and July and then close contacts were either vaccinated immediately, or three weeks later.

In the 2,014 close contacts who were vaccinated immediately there were no subsequent cases of Ebola.

In those vaccinated later there were 16 cases, according to the results published in the Lancet medical journal.

‘Promising’

The WHO says it is so far 100% effective, although that figure may change as more data is collected.

Close contacts of Ebola patients in Guinea will now be vaccinated immediately. And since the vaccine has been shown to be safe, that process will also be extended to include children.

Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) is involved with this research, and is part of a parallel trial for frontline healthcare workers.

Medical director Bertrand Draguez said the Lancet results should spur instant action.

“With such high efficacy, all affected countries should immediately start and multiply ring vaccinations to break chains of transmission and vaccinate all frontline workers to protect them.”

Marie-Paule Kieny, an assistant director general at the WHO told BBC News: “It is certainly promising. We have seen that where rings have been vaccinated, the transmission has stopped.

“Prior to vaccination there were cases, cases, cases. The vaccine arrives and 10 days later the cases are flat.

“It could be a game-changer because previously there was nothing, despite the disease being identified 40 years ago.

“When there is a new outbreak this vaccine will be put to use to stop the outbreak as soon as possible to not have the terrible disaster we have now.”

More than 11,000 people have died from Ebola and nearly 28,000 have been infected.

The sheer scale of the 2014-15 outbreak led to an unprecedented push on vaccines – and a decade’s work has been condensed into around 10 months.

The number of cases has fallen – and in the week up to July 26th 2015 there were just four cases in Guinea and three in Sierra Leone.

Prof John Edmunds, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, helped design the trial: “The development has been at an absolutely unprecedented speed.

“This is very good news, these are very significant results, the epidemic is not over and this shows we have another potential weapon.

“The trial is still continuing, these are interim results which need confirming, but there’s now light at the end of the tunnel.”

Dr Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Wellcome Trust medical charity, said this was a “remarkable result” and was the product of international collaboration.

He added: “Our hope is that this vaccine will now help bring this epidemic to an end and be available for the inevitable future Ebola epidemics.”

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HIV flushed out by cancer drug

HIV can be flushed out of its hiding places in the body using a cancer drug, researchers show.

The cornerstone of treatment, anti-retroviral therapy, kills the virus in the bloodstream but leaves “HIV reservoirs” untouched.

The study, published in PLoS Pathogens, showed the drug was “highly potent” at reactivating hidden HIV.

Experts said the findings were interesting, but it was important to know if the drug was safe in patients.

The power of the HIV reservoir was shown with the case of the Mississippi baby.

She was given antiretroviral drugs at birth. Despite appearing to be free of HIV for nearly two years after stopping treatment, she was found to be harbouring the virus.

‘Kick and kill’

A strategy known as “kick and kill” is thought to be key to curing HIV – the kick would wake up the dormant HIV allowing the drugs to kill it.

The team at the UC Davis School of Medicine investigated PEP005 – one of the ingredients in a treatment to prevent cancer in sun-damaged skin.

They tested the drug in cells grown in the laboratory and in parts of the immune system taken from 13 people with HIV.

The report said “PEP005 is highly potent in reactivating latent HIV” and that the chemical represents “a new group of lead compounds for combating HIV”.

One of the researchers, Dr Satya Dandekar, said: “We are excited to have identified an outstanding candidate for HIV reactivation and eradication that is already approved and is being used in patients.

“This molecule has great potential to advance into translational and clinical studies.”

However, the drug has still not been tested in people who are HIV-positive.

Prof Sharon Lewin, from the University of Melbourne, said the results were “interesting” and marked an “important advance in finding new compounds that can activate latent HIV”.

She told the BBC: “This study adds another family of drugs to test to potentially eliminate long-lived forms of HIV although much more work needs to be done to see if this works in patients.

“Although PEP005 is part of an FDA approved drug, it will first take some time to work out if it is safe to use in the setting of HIV.”

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(Reuters Health) – Older adults who value sexual activity and engage in it have better social lives and psychological well-being, according to a small study in Scotland

Older adults said “they miss and want to engage in sexual behaviors, whether that be a kiss to intercourse,” said study coauthor Taylor-Jane Flynn in an email. “For many, these behaviors remained an important element in their life.”

Flynn, a psychology PhD candidate at Glasgow Caledonian University, said the study was inspired by her work as a health care assistant for elderly people.

Although quality of life is a key consideration for older adults, sexuality is rarely studied, write Flynn and Alan Gow, an associate professor of psychology at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, in the journal Age and Ageing.

The researchers recruited 133 Scottish adults aged 65 and over by distributing questionnaires at local clubs, small businesses and older people’s groups.

About half the participants lived with a spouse or partner.

The questionnaire asked how often in the last six months participants had engaged in six sexual behaviors: touching/holding hands, embracing/hugging, kissing, mutual stroking, masturbation and intercourse.

Participants also rated how important those behaviors are to them, on a five-point scale ranging from “not at all important” to “very important.”

Additionally, the questionnaires assessed participants’ quality of life based on physical health, psychological health, social relationships and environment.

Between 75 and 89 percent said they’d engaged in kissing, hugging and holding hands or touching. Men and women scored about the same for frequency and importance of sexual behaviors overall, and for quality of life.

Although people with frequent sexual activity also placed higher importance on it, the analysis found the two measures were associated with different aspects of quality of life.

Participants reporting more frequent sexual behavior rated their social relationships as higher quality, while people who found sexual activity to be important had higher scores for psychological quality of life.

Overall, however, seniors’ health status had the strongest impact on all aspects of quality of life.

John DeLamater, a sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, said the fact that participants were recruited in community settings – which may attract more healthy and active older people – might affect the results.

“If they are generally healthier (which the results show to be associated with quality of life), they are probably more sexually active,” DeLamater said in an email.

For people who have valued sexuality throughout their lives, he noted, “continuing activity provides protection against a sense of aging and loss, and of continuity if the person is in a long-term relationship.” That may explain the links between sex and well-being found in the study, he said.

While the current study only looked at associations and cannot determine whether sexuality raises quality of life, Gow noted, he hopes that future research will focus more on this subject.

“What we hope is that our current findings encourage other researchers interested in the determinants of health and well-being in older adults to also consider sexual behaviors,” Gow said in an email.

The sexuality of older people should be considered and encouraged, DeLamater said. “We should encourage couples to spend time alone, provide arrangements in care facilities that enable sexual intimacy, provide sexual health information in medical settings.”

SOURCE: bit.ly/1CXCiLh Age and Ageing, online July 14, 2015.

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A member of the French Red Cross disinfects the area around a motionless person suspected of carrying the Ebola virus as a crowd gathers in Forecariah January 30, 2015.

Reuters/Misha Hussain

The world is on the verge of being able to protect humans against Ebola, the World Health Organization said on Friday, as a trial in Guinea found a vaccine to have been 100 percent effective.

    Initial results from the trial, which tested Merck (MRK.N) and NewLink Genetics’ (NLNK.O) VSV-ZEBOV vaccine on some 4,000 people who had been in close contact with a confirmed Ebola case, showed complete protection after 10 days.

    The results were described as “remarkable” and “game changing” by global health specialists.

    “We believe that the world is on the verge of an efficacious Ebola vaccine,” WHO vaccine expert Marie Paule Kieny told reporters in a briefing from Geneva.

    The vaccine could now be used to help end the worst recorded outbreak of Ebola, which has killed more than 11,200 people in West Africa since it began in December 2013.

    WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the results, published online in the medical journal The Lancet, would “change the management of the current Ebola outbreak and future outbreaks”.

The Gavi Alliance, which buys vaccines in bulk for poor countries who struggle to afford them, immediately said it would back an Ebola shot once it is approved.

“These communities need an effective vaccine sooner rather than later,” Gavi’s chief executive Seth Berkley said. “We need to be ready to act wherever the virus is a threat.”

    This and other vaccine trials were fast-tracked with huge international effort as researchers raced to test potential therapies and vaccines while the virus was still circulating.

    “It was a race against time and the trial had to be implemented under the most challenging circumstances,” said John-Arne Røttingen of Norway’s Institute of Public Health, chair of the trial’s steering group.   

“RING VACCINATION”

The Guinea trial began on March 23 to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of a single dose of VSV-ZEBOV using a so-called “ring vaccination” strategy, where close contacts of a person diagnosed with Ebola are immunized – either immediately, or at a later date.

    As data began to emerge showing the very high protection rates in those vaccinated immediately, however, researchers decided on July 26 that they would no longer use the “delayed” strategy, since it was becoming clear that making people wait involved unethical and unnecessary risk.

    The trial is now being continued, with all participants receiving the vaccine immediately, and will be extended to include 13- to 17-year-olds and possibly also 6- to 12-year-old children, the WHO said.

    Jeremy Farrar, a leading infectious disease specialist and director of the Wellcome Trust, said the trial “dared to use a highly innovative and pragmatic design, which allowed the team in Guinea to assess this vaccine in the middle of an epidemic”.

“Our hope is that this vaccine will now help bring this epidemic to an end and be available for the inevitable future Ebola epidemics,” his statement said.

    The medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF), which has led the fight against Ebola in West Africa, called for VSV-ZEBOV to be rolled out to the other centers of the outbreak, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where it says it could break chains of transmission and protect front-line health workers.

VSV-ZEBOV was originally developed by Canada’s public health agency before being licensed to NewLink Genetics, which then signed a deal handing Merck the responsibility to research, develop, manufacture and distribute it.

The success of the Guinea trial is a big relief for researchers, many of whom feared a sharp decline in cases this year would scupper their hopes of proving a vaccine could work.

    Another major trial in Liberia, which had aimed to recruit some 28,000 subjects, had to stop enrolling after only reaching its mid-stage target of 1,500 participants. Plans for testing in Sierra Leone were also scaled back. That left the study in Guinea, where Ebola is still infecting new victims, as the only real hope for demonstrating the efficacy of a vaccine.

(Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva and Ben Hirschler in London; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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Prostate cancer: Five types ‘found’

Scientists have identified five types of prostate cancer, each with a distinct genetic signature.

And by comparing 250 samples removed in surgery with the patients’ subsequent progress, they have identified some types that are more likely to recur.

Until now, there has been no reliable way to know which patients have the more aggressive cancers requiring the most urgent and intensive therapy.

But much larger trials are still needed to be certain of these early results.

Spreading aggressively

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in UK men, with 41,700 cases diagnosed each year.

Prof Malcolm Mason, of Cancer Research UK, which conducted the research with Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, said some of the types were like a pussycat – growing slowly and causing few problems, while others were like a tiger – growing and spreading aggressively.

And researcher Dr Alastair Lamb said it could be possible to combine this genetic information with existing tests to identify patients most at risk.

He said: “These findings could help doctors decide on the best course of treatment for each individual patient, based on the characteristics of their tumour.

“The next step is to confirm these results in bigger studies and drill down into the molecular ‘nuts and bolts’ of each specific prostate cancer type.”

But he cautioned there were still many questions to be ironed out, including whether the technique could be used routinely in hospitals.

Dr Iain Frame, of Prostate Cancer UK, said: “For men to truly benefit from these findings it is now vital that the research community comes together to confirm the most efficient methods for testing for different types of prostate cancer that can be bought to the clinic. “

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Men work on the construction site of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games athletes village in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil July 21, 2015.

Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

Olympic sailors are not worried about getting sick during the Rio Olympics next year in spite of reports that waters where the sailing events will take place have pollution levels equivalent to raw sewage, competitors told Reuters on Thursday.

Tests conducted by the Associated Press found levels of disease-causing viruses as much as 1.7 million times the level that would be considered hazardous on a Southern California beach.

The levels of raw sewage, the AP reported, contradict statements by Olympic organizers that the water-sports venues will be safe.

However, sailors and rowers who have sailed in the Olympic waters said they were not concerned.

“Brazilians haven’t caught anything,” Olympic gold medalist Marcelo Ferreira told Reuters. “I have never had any health problems sailing in the Guanabara Bay.

“The problem with the Guanabara Bay has been dragging on for 30 years, since I was a child. There’s no point in going on about the quality of the water, the Olympics are going to be in Rio no matter what and so this subject is dead for me.”

A spokesperson for British sailors currently in Rio for a test event said the UK competitors were also not too worried.

American Paige Railey, winner of a gold medal in the women’s laser radial in last week’s Pan American Games, said she had no fears about South America’s first-ever Olympic Games.

“We’ve spent a lot of time there the past few years and haven’t had any issues with the water,” said Railey. “I know U.S. Olympic Committee and U.S. Sailing have taken measures to make sure all of us will be healthy and fine.

“Honestly, Rio has been doing a great job with the water, we haven’t had any issues. I think it’s fine. I even swim in it, it doesn’t bug me at all.”

The waters of the Guabanara Bay on Rio’s Atlantic coast have been polluted for years and successive governments have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on supposed clean-ups to little effect.

Cities around the bay routinely pump untreated sewage into its waters and parts of the coastline are littered with garbage such as tires, sofas, old televisions and all kinds of plastic detritus.

After originally saying they would cut pollution by 80 percent ahead of the Olympics, organizers backed down and said they would only ensure the sailing lanes were clean.

(Reporting by Jeb Blount, Pedro Fonseca, Andrew Downie, Caio Saad, Steve Keating; Writing by Andrew Downie; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Dan Grebler)

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An Abbott Laboratories sales staff checks the serial number of a powder milk tin during a production recall at a milk shop outside Hanoi August 6, 2013.

Reuters/Kham

Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) on Thursday said it would buy a small private company and has invested in another, with an option to buy, as it places bets on the future growth potential of minimally invasive systems to replace diseased heart valves.

Abbott said it has agreed to acquire the equity in Minnesota-based Tendyne Holdings Inc that it does not already own for $225 million plus future payments tied to regulatory milestones. Abbott already had a 10 percent stake in the company worth about $25 million.

In a separate transaction in which financial details were not disclosed, Abbott said it has provided capital to and secured an option to purchase California-based Cephea Valve Technologies.

Both private companies are developing systems to replace diseased mitral valves in the heart while sparing patients traditional chest-cracking open-heart surgery.

Neither deal is expected to alter Abbott’s 2015 earnings forecast, the company said.

Abbott currently sells MitraClip, a minimally invasive device used to repair a leaking mitral valve.

The incidence of mitral valve disease is about three times that of aortic valve disease, with multibillion-dollar sales potential, Abbott said.

“Given the market opportunity and clinical need, we see this as a significant driver for growth several years from now,” John Capek, head of Ventures for Abbott said in an interview.

Minimally invasive aortic valve replacement systems are considered among the most important growth drivers for both Edwards Lifesciences (EW.N) and Medtronic (MDT.N).

The dual flap mitral valve sits on the left side of the heart between upper and lower chambers and helps facilitate proper blood flow in the heart.

U.S. regulators have given the green light to a study to test the safety and effectiveness of Tendyne’s mitral valve system, which has begun enrolling patients, Abbott said. It plans to begin enrolling patients next year for a trial aimed at gaining European approval.

The Tendyne valve has been implanted in 10 people so far, Capek said.

“We’re very impressed with results,” he said. “Those 10 patients have done remarkably well.”

The Cephea valve system is at a much earlier stage of development, he said.

Abbott shares were down 33 cents at $50.73 on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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