News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – A new report from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) offers a few predictions on when certain new countermeasures against biological threats will become available, including a forecast for two novel influenza drugs and possibly a next-generation anthrax vaccine within the next 5 years.

(CIDRAP News) – Complete genetic sequencing of a novel coronavrius isolated from a Saudi Arabian man who died in June supports earlier findings that the virus is most closely related to coronaviruses found in bats, according to a report published today in mBio.

(CIDRAP News) – The number of reported H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in poultry and wild birds has decreased since mid 2011 and was down sharply in the second quarter of this year, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a quarterly update on the ongoing situation.

(CIDRAP News) – BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. signaled yesterday it will probably give up on seeking a US license for the influenza drug peramivir, a move that would reduce the already limited options for severely ill flu patients in need of an intravenous antiviral drug.