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| Sunday, 27 November 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Acambis, Bharat Biotech launch JE vaccine Acambis plc ("Acambis") (LSE: ACM, NASDAQ: ACAM) has entered into a manufacturing and marketing agreement with Bharat Biotech International Limited ("Bharat Biotech") of India relating to Acambis' ChimeriVax(-JE investigational vaccine against Japanese encephalitis ("JE"). JE, a virus transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, is the leading cause of childhood encephalitis and viral encephalitis in Asia. In 1999,Sri Lanka reported 102 cases of JE. The disease is prevalent across 21 Districts of the country. Currently, an epidemic is affecting areas of four districts of Nepal and northern India where more than 1,000 people have died since July, most of them children. Every year, there are an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 cases of JE, approximately 25-30 percent of which are fatal; a high proportion of survivors are left with serious neurological impairments. Despite the availability of JE vaccines for 60 years, the virus continues to cause death and disease. As a result of this significant unmet public health need and in the absence of a safe, single-dose vaccine, the World Health Organisation's (WHO's) Initiative for Vaccine Research and the Gates Foundation have identified a need for development of a second-generation, affordable JE vaccine that has an acceptable safety profile and requires fewer doses than currently available vaccines. Acambis is preparing to commence pivotal Phase lll trials of a single-dose regimen of its ChimeriVax-JE vaccine candidate by the end of 2005, having completed Phase ll clinical testing. Current JE vaccines are administered in multiple doses. Under the agreement, Bharat Biotech will be responsible for end-stage fill/finish processing of ChimeriVax-JE at its facilities in India and once ChimeriVax-JE is approved, will market and distribute the vaccine in the Indian subcontinent. |
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