(COMTEXB: US Government increase efforts against SARS
B: US Government increase efforts against SARS
May 02, 2003 (Datamonitor via COMTEX) -- Health advisors to the US Government
have initiated concerted efforts to develop a vaccine against SARS in case the
deadly disease reaches pandemic proportions. The National Institutes of Health
has awarded research grants to companies and labs specializing in different
techniques in order to kick start research on multiple fronts into the rapidly
mutating virus.
At present, the main area of focus is on vaccine development. One of the first
research grants to be announced was that awarded to GenVec. The company
currently has a $10 million contract with the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) to develop an AIDS vaccine using its adenovirus technology, and GenVec was
given another $400,000 to use the same method in SARS. Another company involved
in the hunt for a vaccine is Chiron, which has already deciphered the genetic
code of one of the strains of SARS.
Meanwhile, work progresses on drugs to treat patients already infected with the
respiratory disease. Two companies, Medarex and Massachusetts Biologic
Laboratories, are employing genetic engineering to develop monoclonal antibodies
to SARS, an approach that has borne fruit with MedImmune's Synagis. Merck is
also screening its large catalog of infectious disease drugs to see if any are
effective.
Other methods being examined include the design of protease inhibitors and
antisense drugs for SARS. AVI BioPharma took just 13 days to develop an
antisense compound that in theory should disrupt the virus's genetic functions,
although researchers in the past have found it harder to make this approach work
in practice.
Hopes are high that all this activity could produce a viable SARS treatment in
as little as three years. Dr Anthony Fauci, the head the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the virus could be easier to contain than
the virus that caused AIDS.
"When you have an infection in which the majority of the people... spontaneously
recover, eliminating the virus from their body, that's a very big hint that you
can get a vaccine," said Dr Fauci in comments reported on the ABC website.
So far, SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, has killed at least 333
people around the world. It is thought the disease first emerged in China last
November, and that since then it has spread, killing 148 on the Chinese mainland
and 150 in Hong Kong alone. SARS has infected 5,400 people worldwide.
The disease has yet to be brought under control in China, and the public health
infrastructure is struggling to cope as nearly 10,000 have been quarantined in
Beijing in an attempt to try and stop the virus. At the moment however, SARS
appears to be leveling off elsewhere.
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KEYWORD: United States
SUBJECT CODE: Infectious, Other
Pharmaceuticals
Healthcare biotechnology
Healthcare R&D
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