An H7N9 avian influenza vaccine developed by a research and development team co-led by Adimmune Corp and Taipei Veteran’s General Hospital entered the animal testing stage last month and is expected to enter the second phase of clinical trials in January next year.
The research has been subsidized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare with NT$34.5 million (US$1.16 million) and the team aims to obtain the vaccine’s license and have it hit the market by the end of next year.
The corporation said that although warmer summer weather has helped contain the spread of the H7N9 virus, an infection had still been reported in Hebei, China, as recently as July.
A Chinese research team published its finding in July that the H7N9 virus may be capable of human-to-human transmission via airborne droplets from the respiratory tract, if the virus mutates after entering the human body.
Another research report authored by China’s Jiangsu Province’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the British Medical Journal last month reported the first likely case of limited person-to-person transmission of the H7N9 bird flu virus.
The report shows an almost 100 percent genetic similarity between the viruses isolated from each of the two patients in the suspected family cluster case, involving a 60-year-old man infected with H7N9 at a live poultry market and his daughter, who had been providing prolonged bedside care for her father.
The two isolates are both of avian origin and capable of binding lower pulmonary epithelial cells.
In the event of an outbreak occurring in the autumn or winter, the Adimmune Corp said it would follow the ministry’s policy and mass-produce the vaccine immediately.
The Adimmune Corp added that it will also be starting the second phase of clinical trials for the enterovirus 71 vaccine, and the third and final phase is expected to be completed in 2017, after which mass production will be possible once the license is obtained.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
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