Recent News

By Region: North America

Researcher who spiked rabbit blood to fake HIV vaccine results slapped with rare prison sentence

(Washington Post) Dong Pyou Han, a former Iowa State University researcher charged with falsifying HIV vaccine research, says that his troubles all started as an accident. Quickly, it became a multimillion-dollar research fraud scheme that landed him in prison. On Wednesday, Han, 57, became a rare academic to not just fall from grace but also  Read More »

Senators, health experts demand action to address biolab accidents

(USA Today)  Key members of Congress, public health leaders and biosecurity experts demand better oversight and accountability for laboratories in the wake of a USA TODAY Network investigation that revealed widespread safety lapses and pervasive secrecy that obscures failings by researchers and regulators.  The investigation uncovered hundreds of lab accidents and near-miss incidents that occurred  Read More »

Senate panel approves $2 billion raise for NIH in 2016

(Science) The draft bill approved by the Senate appropriations panel that oversees NIH’s budget would give the agency twice the $1 billion proposed by the Obama administration and $900 million more than the corresponding House panel, according to a summary statement.

FDA Accepts BLA for Inhalational Anthrax Countermeasure

(Global Biodefense) Anthim (obiltoxaximab) is for the treatment and prevention of inhalational anthrax, and is a candidate for future acquisition into the Strategic National Stockpile, the U.S. government’s repository of critical medical supplies for biowarfare preparedness.  Anthim has been developed under Fast-Track status and Orphan Drug Designation by the FDA.

Indian Woman Being Treated in U.S. for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis

(NY Times) Infectious diseases carried around the world by air travelers have become a fact of modern life, with imported cases in just the last year of Ebola, Lassa fever and, now, a highly drug-resistant form of tuberculosis.  In the latest incident, a woman with TB flew from India to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, landing on  Read More »