Children's lands big contract

[AlaskaDenise]

Hospital gets $23.7M for vaccine tests

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center received a seven-year, $23.7 million federal contract to test experimental vaccines.

The contract extends and increases a 1994 contract that the hospital received from the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases to test vaccines.

"This contract places Cincinnati in the forefront of a national effort to combat infectious diseases and offers us the opportunity to be the leader in developing and testing vaccines," said David Bernstein, Children's director of infectious diseases. "Vaccines are the single most cost-effective strategy we have to combat infectious diseases."

Hospital officials said the award is thought to be the largest contract or grant the Corryville hospital has ever received.

Children's, one of eight hospitals awarded a vaccine-testing contract, has been designated as a vaccine and treatment evaluation unit through the institute since 2002.

Nationally, the units have tested and advanced vaccines for pandemic flu, pneumonia, whooping cough, smallpox, malaria, anthrax and other infectious diseases. In 2005, researchers at Children's joined a national effort to test a bird flu vaccine.

The institute established the testing units in 1962.

Federal health authorities expect the units to conduct more clinical trials in large populations and to test vaccines in specific populations, such as infants and the elderly, that are especially vulnerable to infectious diseases.

The units are especially valuable because they can recruit large numbers of volunteers and carry out testing quickly and safely, said Anthony Fauci, the institute director. Rapid response is especially important to test emerging health threats, such as bird flu.
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Hospitals in Houston, Texas, Atlanta, Seattle, Baltimore, Nashville and Iowa City, Iowa, also received vaccine contracts.

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[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Vaccine testing grants - SLU Receives $23 Million to Continue Research

Re: Vaccine testing grants - SLU Receives $23 Million to Continue Research

Searching for Better Vaccines: SLU Receives $23 Million to Continue Research to Prevent Diseases

NIH 7-Year Contract Recognizes Strength of Center for Vaccine Development



ST. LOUIS -- Weeks after its move into the new Edward A. Doisy Research Center, Saint Louis University's Center for Vaccine Development has received a $23.7 million contract from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand its research into promising vaccines and therapies for infectious diseases.

The seven-year contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is part of the NIH, funds the Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU) at Saint Louis University. The award is among the largest given to Saint Louis University.

"We started October in our new home at Doisy Research Center and began November with a $23 million NIH contract. This is huge, both from a financial perspective and as a vote of confidence in our fight against threats to public health," said Robert Belshe, M.D., Adorjan professor of internal medicine and director for the Center for Vaccine Development at Saint Louis University.

"This contract will allow us to continue our work researching vaccines that protect people against diseases such as smallpox, hepatitis C, herpes, tuberculosis and avian flu."

At the same time, Belshe said, Saint Louis University will look at vaccines against new and emerging diseases that could include staph infections that are resistant to multiple drugs.

Saint Louis University has been funded as a VTEU since 1989.

The NIAID announced on Tuesday that Saint Louis University is one of eight VTEUs that will evaluate new and improved vaccines and novel ways of delivering them. Other sites are Baylor College of Medicine; Emory University; University of Maryland; Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati; Group Health Cooperative in Seattle; University of Iowa; and Vanderbilt University.

"The renewal of this contract by the National Institutes of Health recognizes the long-running excellence of the vaccine center and lays the groundwork for future cutting-edge studies on novel vaccines such as those for the hepatitis C virus, smallpox and other agents," said Adrian DiBisceglie, M.D., acting chairman of internal medicine at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

Saint Louis University's Center for Vaccine Development has conducted extensive research on biodefense, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and tuberculosis vaccines as well.

"The Center for Vaccine Development is a national leader in research to improve and protect public health," said Joe Weixlmann, Ph.D., Saint Louis University provost.

"Preventive medicine is crucial to improving people's health worldwide. Individuals do not need to be cured of diseases that they do not contract. The studies currently underway at Saint Louis University's Center for Vaccine Development ultimately will make the world's population healthier."

One of the strengths of the Center for Vaccine Development is its ability to quickly recruit study participants from various population groups including children, the elderly, volunteers who have weak immune systems or other underlying medical conditions and women of child-bearing age, said Belshe, who is principal investigator of the VTEU at Saint Louis University.

During the last several years, Saint Louis University researchers have demonstrated a way to stretch a supply of vaccine to protect more than twice as many young people against influenza using half-doses of vaccine.

They have found that an intranasal vaccine does a better job of protecting young children against the flu than the traditional injected vaccine. They have shown the limited stockpile of smallpox vaccine can be diluted up to 10 times and maintain its potency.

"The contract recognizes that SLU is one of the best places to conduct vaccine research," Belshe said. "We have a strong track record of conducting successful research in a timely way to get answers that have a dramatic impact on public health."

As a VTEU, the Center for Vaccine Development will develop clinical protocols in response to requests from the NIAID. The center also can suggest ideas for basic and clinical research on combining vaccines, finding new ways of using existing vaccines and testing new vaccines.

The opportunity for scientific creativity is exciting, Belshe said.

"We're very good at thinking outside the box in finding new ways of taking advantage of the body's natural immune responses, such giving an influenza vaccine as a nasal spray. Vaccines don't necessarily have to be injected to be effective."

Established in 1836, Saint Louis University School of Medicine has the distinction of awarding the first M.D. degree west of the Mississippi River.

Saint Louis University School of Medicine is a pioneer in geriatric medicine, organ transplantation, chronic disease prevention, cardiovascular disease, neurosciences and vaccine research, among others. The School of Medicine trains physicians and biomedical scientists, conducts medical research, and provides health services on a local, national and international level.

http://www.slu.edu/x19145.xml