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Human Trials Commence Next Year For The First Genetically-Engineered Malaria Vaccine
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists have created a weakened strain of the malaria parasite that will be used as a live vaccine against the disease. The vaccine, developed in collaboration with researchers from the US, Japan and Canada, will be trialled in humans from early next year.
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Washington, D.C., Officials Expand STI Testing Program To All Public High Schools
Washington, D.C., officials are planning to make testing for sexually transmitted infections available at all public high schools in the coming school year, adding D.C. to a growing list of cities that test students for STIs, the Washington Post reports. All 50 states and the district allow minors older than age 12 to be tested for STIs without parental consent.The new program requires all students to attend a lecture about STIs, after which they are escorted into restroom areas in groups of 15 to 20. They are then given paper bags with urine collection cups and go into the stalls, at which point they can decide whether to provide a sample. All students return the paper bags, regardless of whether they provided samples. Students give a password and can call a week later to receive their confidential results and, if necessary, treatment at the school or an STI clinic, which is paid for by the city. The district first offered the program two years ago at two charter schools, and eight high schools were included during the past school year.A 2007 study by the D.C. public school system found that 60% of high school students and 30% of middle school students reported having sex. According to the study, 20% of high school students reported having sex with four or more partners and 12% of middle school students reported having three or more partners.According to the D.C. Department of Health, the program at eight high schools last year found that 13% of 3,000 students tested positive for an STI, most commonly chlamydia or gonorrhea. Fifty percent of the chlamydia and gonorrhea cases in the district are among teenagers.According to the D.C. Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, the new program is an important step toward curbing the district"s HIV/AIDS rate, which is among the highest in the U.S. Walter Smith, executive director of D.C. Appleseed, said, "If 13% of these students are testing positive for [STIs], those same kids could get HIV," adding, "A lot needs to be done to get the message out to the schools, ... and this very high [STI] rate is an indication that what we"ve been doing is not effective" (Fears/Hernandez, Washington Post, 8/5).
News of the day
California Govenor Outlines Cuts To Address State's Budget Deficit Problems
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) outlined two budget proposals to address the state"s budget problems, and both plans would affect health care, the Los Angeles Times reports. The first proposal addresses the situation if California voters approve a set of special ballot measures intended to provide funds for fiscal year 2009-2010. The state would still face a $15.4 billion budget deficit even if voters approve the measures, and the second proposal addresses that scenario (Rothfeld, Los Angeles Times, 5/15). The governor proposed $750 million in cuts to Medi-Cal, the state"s Medicaid program, that would reduce eligibility and provider rates. The state would need to seek a federal waiver to implement the cuts. The governor also proposed eliminating eligibility for non-emergency Medi-Cal benefits for documented immigrants (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 5/15). Spending for centers that provide services to people with developmental disabilities would be cut by $234 million (Zapler, San Jose Mercury News, 5/14).If voters do not approve three ballot measures, Schwarzenegger outlined $800 million in additional cuts to health and human services programs, including a proposal to eliminate Healthy Families coverage for about 225,000 children. Healthy Families is California"s CHIP (Yi et al., San Francisco Chronicle, 5/15).
Oncology

Global Lupus Experts Gather For Historic Meeting -- Urgent And Unmet Needs Of Individuals With Lupus Dominate Agenda

The Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) convened an Expert Panel June 1-2 to address the urgent and unmet need for the development and approval of new, safe, effective, and tolerable medications for people with lupus. It has been more than 50 years since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new drug specifically to treat lupus. Discussions during the two-day meeting in Washington, DC focused on how to better conduct studies of potential new lupus treatments, including clinical endpoints, diagnostic tools, background medications, and clinical trial design. This historic gathering of 70 lupus thought leaders from around the world, representing academia, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, and government, is part of a comprehensive initiative entitled A New 21st Century Approach to Lupus Healthcare, launched by the LFA to advance the science and medicine of lupus. This initiative includes research, education, and policy programs aimed at addressing the multi-dimensional needs of individuals with lupus. During the meeting, the LFA reported on the progress of its three-year study which has now resulted in an international consensus on a definition of lupus flares and proposed flare indices for instruments used to measure disease activity in clinical trials. The definition has been lacking and is necessary in order to measure the effectiveness of potential new therapies for lupus. Scientific challenges are not the only issues that affect the ability of individuals with lupus to receive affordable, accessible health care. The LFA also announced several initiatives related to drug reimbursement, including the launch of a major study of policies in private and public health plans for future lupus drugs. A separate project will examine reimbursement issues that affect the use of off-label medications currently used to treat lupus. The Expert Panel meeting concluded with agreement on several key outcomes. Among them was the request and agreement that LFA lead a collaboration with industry representatives to share and mine data gathered from past studies to determine possible trends in drug development, and to use the collective lessons to better construct future studies of new lupus treatments. Other results of the meeting will be released in a report to be issued later this summer. The report will summarize discussions from the Expert Panel meeting and outline strategies to begin a new era in healthcare for all people with lupus. The report will include a research agenda specific to advancing the development and approval of new, safe, effective, and tolerable treatments for the disease. People with lupus and the physicians who care for them are sure to benefit from the collaboration of this interdisciplinary group of experts to bring down the barriers to lupus drug development. In related news, data from studies of two potential lupus drugs will be released later this year. While the results of these trials hold great promise, at this time the outcomes cannot be predicted. Therefore, the work that is being done collectively in the scientific community, government, and industry will be needed to ensure an improved quality of life for the estimated 1.5 million Americans and at least five million individuals worldwide living with lupus. About Lupus Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that is the result of an unbalanced immune system which can become destructive to any major organ or tissue in the body. Lupus is unpredictable and potentially fatal, yet no satisfactory treatment or cure exists. Its health consequences may include heart attacks, strokes, seizures, or sudden organ failure. Lupus Foundation of America


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