Researchers announced yesterday they have developed a new vaccine against enterovirus 71 (EV 71) and will partner with biotech companies to carry out human clinical trials.
The vaccine, which has proven effective in primates, is expected to offer humans better protection against EV 71, a virulent strain of the virus that causes hand, foot and mouth disease, said Chiang Bor-luen (江伯倫) of National Taiwan University Hospital.
“The vaccine has effectively induced antibodies against EV 71 in the Formosan macaque, a primate close to humans,” said Chiang, a professor at the hospital’s pediatrics department and Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine.
The next step is to team up with experienced biotech companies to conduct more studies and clinical trials, Chiang said.
Hu Yu-chen (胡育誠), a professor at National Tsing Hua University’s chemical engineering department, said the new vaccine is safer and has fewer side effects than others.
Instead of using inactivated viral cells, Hu said, the new vaccine uses virus-like particles (VLPs) to stimulate immune responses.
“Using genetic engineering, we produced proteins that can be assembled into VLPs, which resemble viruses, but do not contain viral genetic material like DNA or RNA,” he said.
The technology is already being used to make the human papilloma virus vaccine that can help prevent cervical cancer, he said.
With the help of biotech companies, the EV 71 vaccine could enter late stage clinical trials in about five years, Hu said.
Taiwan has been actively engaged in the development of an EV 71 vaccine since a huge outbreak of foot and mouth disease occurred in 1998, killing 78 people.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS