The News:
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| The News: 5 October 1999: A new type of influenza ("flu") vaccine that may provide longterm protection does well in animal tests. The Background: Current vaccines have to be reformulated from year to year because of genetic changes in the target antigen. The new vaccine uses an antigen that does not change from year to year. Discussion of influenza and the problems with current vaccines. |
| The News: 5 October 1999: 11-year old Massachusetts boy to receive his first injection of an experimental drug, CMA-676, to treat his leukemia. The Background: CMA-676 is the first immunotoxin to show promise in the fight against cancer. Link for more on CMA-676 and other therapeutic uses for monoclonal antibodies. |
| The News: 28 September 1999: Phase II clinical trials show linezolid (tradename = Zyvox), one of a new class of antibiotics called oxazolidinones, effective at treating certain (mostly hospital-acquired) infections that are resistant to vancomycin, the current "antibiotic of last resort".
The Background: Link to a discussion of antibiotics and the problem of antibiotic resistance. |
| The News: 16 September 1999: A group of physicians in England reports the results of a year-long trial of recombinant leptin in a young girl suffering from extreme obesity because of mutations in her leptin genes. The Background: Link to: discussion of leptin. |
| The News: 22 September 1999: The U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves Synercid to treat certain (mostly hospital-acquired) infections that are resistant to vancomycin, the current "antibiotic of last resort".
The Background: Link to a discussions of antibiotics and the problem of antibiotic resistance. |
| The News: 17 September 1999: Medicaid officials debate whether to pay for an 11-year old Massachusetts boy to go to Seattle to be treated with an experimental drug, CMA-676, to treat his leukemia. The Background: CMA-676 is the first immunotoxin to show promise in the fight against cancer. Link for more on CMA-676 and other therapeutic uses for monoclonal antibodies. |
The News:Scientists working at MIT (Hahn et al, Nature, 29 July 1999) announce the conversion of normal human cells into cancer cells by transforming them with just 3 genes encoding
This feat is routine with mouse cells [View], but has not been accomplished before with human cells. Link to a comparison of the properties of normal and cancer cells grown in culture. The Background: Follow the links indicated above. |
| The News: 27 July 1999: The U. S. Food and Drug Administration approves zanamivir as a treatment for influenza (both types A and B). This inhaled drug targets the neuraminidase of the virus. The Background: Link to: discussion of influenza. |
| The News: 27 May 1999: The research team that created Dolly, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, report that her telomeres are only 80% as long as those in a normal one-year-old sheep. The Background: Link to: |
| The News: 20 May 1999: Researchers from Cornell University report that pollen from corn plants carrying the transgene for Bt toxin is toxic to the larvae of the monarch butterfly. Monarch caterpillars do not feed on corn but can be poisoned by the toxin in corn pollen dusted on the leaves of their food (milkweed). The Background: Link to:
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