* GSK CEO says company will make no money from vaccineBy Kate Kelland and Ben HirschlerSEATTLE/LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - An experimental vaccine
from GlaxoSmithKline halved the risk of African children
getting malaria in a major clinical trial, making it likely to
become the world’s first shot against the deadly disease.Final-stage trial data released on Tuesday showed it gave
protection against clinical and severe malaria in five- to
17-month-olds in Africa, where the mosquito-borne disease kills
hundreds of thousands of children a year.”These data bring us to the cusp of having the world’s first
malaria vaccine,” said Andrew Witty, chief executive of the
British drugmaker that developed the vaccine along with the
non-profit PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI).While hailing an unprecedented achievement, Witty, malaria
scientists and global health experts stressed that the vaccine
— known as RTS,S or Mosquirix — was no quick fix for
eradicating malaria. The new shot is less effective than others
against common infections like polio and measles.”We would have wished that we could wipe it out, but I think
this is going to contribute to the control of malaria rather
than wiping it out,” Tsiri Agbenyega, a principal investigator
in the RTS,S trials in Ghana, told Reuters at a conference in
Seattle about the disease.Malaria is endemic in more than 100 countries worldwide and
killed around 781,000 people in 2009, according to the World
Health Organisation.Control measures such as insecticide-treated bednets, indoor
spraying and the use of combination anti-malaria drugs have
helped cut the numbers of malaria cases and deaths significantly
in recent years, but experts say an effective vaccine is vital
to complete the fight against the disease.The new data, presented at the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation’s Malaria Forum conference in Seattle and published
simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine, were the
first from a final-stage Phase III clinical trial conducted at
11 trial sites in seven countries across sub-Saharan Africa.The trial is still going on, but researchers who analysed
data from the first 6,000 children found that after 12 months of
follow-up, three doses of RTS,S reduced the risk of children
experiencing clinical malaria and severe malaria by 56 percent
and 47 percent respectively.”We are very happy with the results. We have never been
closer to having a successful malaria vaccine,” said Christian
Loucq, director of PATH MVI, who was at the Seattle conference.Loucq added that widespread use of insecticide-treated
bednets in the trial — by 75 percent of people taking part —
showed that RTS,S can provide significant protection on top of
other existing malaria control methods.Results in babies aged six to 12 weeks are expected in a
year’s time and, if all goes well, GSK believes the vaccine
could reach the market in 2015.Getting it to the African infants that need it will take a
concerted effort from international funders, such as the Gates
Foundation that helped pay for the research. Health experts say
it must be cheap enough to be cost-effective.Witty declined to say if a course of three shots would cost
under $10 but told reporters RTS,S would be priced as low as
possible. The company has previously said it will charge only
the cost of manufacture plus a 5 percent mark-up, which will be
reinvested into tropical disease research.”We are not going to make any money from this project,”
Witty said.PARASITE IN SALIVAMalaria is caused by a parasite carried in the saliva of
mosquitoes. The RTS,S vaccine is designed to kick in when the
parasite enters the human bloodstream after a mosquito bite. By
stimulating an immune response, it can prevent the parasite from
maturing and multiplying in the liver.Without that immune response, the parasite gets back into
the bloodstream and infects red blood cells, leading to fever,
body aches and in some cases death.RTS,S’s co-inventor Joe Cohen said the data were robust and
consistent with earlier trials which also showed around 50
percent efficacy. Side effects, including fever and
injection-site swelling, were similar in children given RTS,S
and a control vaccine.After working for 24 years on developing the shot, he said
he was “very proud of what we have achieved”.Some external commentators were cautious about the vaccine’s
potential — health experts normally like to see a success rate
of 80 percent plus in a vaccine — but said it was an important
development that should save many lives.”We’re probably not there yet, but this is a really
important advance in science,” Peter Agre, director of the John
Hopkins Malaria Research Institute and a former Nobel prize
winner, told Reuters at the Seattle Malaria Forum.
@7 months ago with 84 notes
#Worlds #first #malaria #vaccine #works #in #major #trial
“It didn’t work, it won’t work,” he said.Iran’s English-language Press TV quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying the U.S. allegations were “untrue and baseless.”“It is a comedy show fabricated by America,” he said. The relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia was based on “mutual respect” and could not be harmed by “fabricating such baseless claims.”U.S. authorities say they broke up a plot to bomb the Israeli and Saudi Arabian embassies in Washington and assassinate the Saudi ambassador.The alleged plotters were identified as Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri — both originally from Iran — in a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in New York City.The United States has said it held rare direct contacts with Iran over the allegations. An Iranian news agency quoted an Iranian official at the U.N. as denying that.”I will again confirm that we did meet with the Iranians,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Friday.”They know that very well, and any efforts on their part to deny it speaks again to how truthful they are about any of these sorts of matters.”IRAN-SAUDI TENSIONPolitical tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia has been increasing since Saudi forces intervened in March to help Bahrain’s Sunni rulers crush pro-reform demonstrations backed by the Shi’ite majority.Iran and the United State are at odds over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program, which Washington and its allies say is a cover to build bombs.Tehran denies this, saying it needs nuclear technology to generate electricity to meet its booming domestic need. The United States and Israel, which Iran refuses to recognize, have not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the row with Iran.
@7 months ago
#Irans #supreme #leader #calls #US #accusations #meaningless
* Budget deficit widens in first nine months, despite new
taxesBy Harry PapachristouATHENS, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Greek tax inspectors will go on
strike next week to protest against planned wage and pension
cuts, threatening more disruption to revenue collection efforts
that are already falling behind the tough budget targets imposed
by international lenders.With much of Greece expected to be shut down by a general
strike on Oct. 19, finance ministry officials have called a
two-week stoppage from Oct. 17 while tax offices will remain
closed on Oct. 17-20 and customs officials will stay away from
their desks on Oct. 18-23.The walkouts are not only expected to disrupt tax payments.
They might also block statistics releases and even fuel
supplies, since petrol deliveries from refiners to tank stations
usually require customs clearance.”This law will drastically cut our wages and hurt our
pensions,” the POE-DOY union, which represents tax officials,
said in a statement.Athens has promised tough new civil service wage cuts to
convince the European Union and International Monetary Fund that
it will meet its budget deficit targets of 8.5 percent of gross
domestic product this year and 6.8 percent in the next.But the strike underlines the risks to a tax collection
drive demanded by the EU and IMF inspectors as workers who will
themselves suffer from the austerity measures resist
implementing the new laws.Disgruntled electricity workers have already threatened to
boycott a planned property tax, designed to be collected through
electricity bills as a means of bypassing the notoriously
inefficient tax authority.On Wednesday, workers in the Greek archaeological service,
responsible for running sites such as the Acropolis in Athens
which help attract much-needed tourist revenues to Greece, also
went on strike. Doctors and nurses and teachers were planning
separate demonstrations.”We’ll continue with labour action and occupations next week
when the general strike takes place,” said Despina Spanou, a
senior leader of the ADEDY union, which represents half a
million public sector workers.”We expect it to be the biggest walkout so far, an answer to
this austerity bill that rips us off. We cannot live like this,”
she told Reuters.Public sector workers have already lost a fifth of their
salaries since the start of the crisis. Spanou said the new bill
will further reduce wages by 20 percent on average.”It’s not just salary cuts. It’s a combination of measures
that hurt civil servants such as the unified wage scale or the
labour reserve. I am an example of the pain they feel. I’ve
already lost 70 percent of my 2009 salary,” she said.DEFICIT WIDENSWith Greece trapped in deep recession and fighting to
control a public debt mountain expected to reach 162 percent of
GDP this year, there has been growing doubt over its ability to
stave off a debt default.Parliament is debating a sweeping package of measures,
ranging from wage and pension cuts, tax hikes and large scale
public sector layoffs. Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said
the measures had to be approved in time for an EU leaders’
summit on Oct. 23.”This law needs to be approved before the EU summit so that
the PM can stand up and argue that Greece is fulfilling its
obligations,” Venizelos told lawmarkers at a reading of the
legislation in parliament on Wednesday.The government has already admitted it will miss its 2011
deficit target and Venizelos has warned that if citizens fail to
back new tax measures, the 2011 budget deficit could reach 9
percent of GDP, even higher than the new 8.5 percent goal.On Tuesday, officials from the so-called EU-IMF “troika”
noted that Greece would miss its 2011 fiscal targets and needed
to take additional steps to get back on track to meet targets
beyond 2012.But the austerity measures imposed so far by Prime Minister
George Papandreou’s centre-left government have failed to make
visible headway in solving the crisis.On Wednesday, data showed Greece’s central government budget
deficit during the first nine months widened 15 percent
year-on-year to 19.2 billion euros as measures including a hike
on sales tax in restaurants and a one-off income tax surcharge
failed to boost overall tax revenues.The finance ministry said the shortfall was mainly due to a
deeper-than-expected recession, which has been exacerbated by
the austerity measures.The slump not only hurt revenues but also lifted spending,
as the government increased payments to social security
organisations, whose receipts are drying up as businesses and
workers reduce contributions.
@7 months ago
#Greek #tax #inspectors #announce #strike #as #austerity #protests #spread
