Conventional vaccines

Conventional pharmaceutical development has been estimated to costs roughly between 100 million and 800 million per product, and takes over 12 years. The development of conventional vaccines may be somewhat less costly, although new recombinant DNA-derived subunit vaccines produced in fermentation-based systems are likely to be similar to protein pharmaceuticals in development costs. At present, none of the major pharmaceutical companies is directing funding towards the development of plant-derived vaccines for infectious diseases. This may reflect ... 

The advent of recombinant DNA technology has rendered possible the large-scale production of polypeptides normally present on the surface of virtually any pathogen. These polypeptides, when purified from the producer organism (e.g. E. coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae) can then be used as subunit vaccines. This method of vaccine production exhibits several advantages over conventional vaccine production methodologies. These include ... 

If a conventional vaccine for a certain disease exists, a new process/ product patent would, for example, claim a process for the manufacture of a recombinant vaccine and the resulting new vaccine itself. Patent claims for the vaccine could be deduced from a higher purity, an improved efficacy or a reduced risk of adventitious agents. Of course, these advantages should be substantiated by experimental data or by conclusive evidence from the literature. 

Conventional vaccines in use today typically require the use of added adjuvants to initiate and potentiate an antigen-specific iimnune response. In contrast, vaccines that incorporate the conformationally-biased agonists of C5a as molecular adjuvants described in tliis chapter require no added adjuvants - vaccinations are accomplished with just water/saline as the veliicle. Describe why this is possible. 

Zuckerman JN. Hepatitis B third-generation vaccines improved response and conventional vaccine nonresponse—third generation pre-S/S vaccines overcome non-response. J Viral Hepat 1998 5(Suppl 2) 13-15. 

Since aerosol dispersal of BoNT can create a toxic cloud over large areas, it is considered to be a likely route for use by terrorists. Consequently, a critical question for effective medical management of potential bioterrorist attacks is whether the conventional vaccine and antitoxin would be effective in treating patients following an inhalation exposure of BoNT. In experiments where guinea pigs were immunized with the pentavalent toxoid, the vaccine was found to be as protective against an... 

More on anthrax, the Ebola virus, and especially the smallpox virus, are presented in firsthand accounts in Richard Preston s The Demon in the Freezer A True Story, published in 2002. Following the format of his previous book The Hot Zone A Terrifying True Story, Preston interviewed many of the principals involved in the CDC and, in particular, in the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Dedrick, Maryland. He gives particulars about the highly successful program to eradicate smallpox, and about still-remaining sources of the stored virus. Included is the fact that genetic modification has produced a new strain that is not affected by conventional vaccinations. 

An update on the more conventional vaccinations requires mention of the vaccine preservative used — sodium ethyl mercury thiosalicylate, better known as thimero-sal. The very presence of toxic mercury in routine childhood vaccinations raises a... 

Rottinhaus S T, Poland G A, Jacobson R M, et al. (2003). Hepatitis B DNA vaccine induces protective antibody responses in human non-responders to conventional vaccination. Vaccine. 21 4604-4608. 

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