Vaccine maker Medicago (TSX:MDG) has developed a technology that can turn tobacco leaves into vaccines quickly and inexpensively, and the biotechnology company’s new North Carolina site stands ready for influenza vaccine production.But when Medicago unveiled its new Research Triangle Park facility last November amid great fanfare, CEO Andrew Sheldon said he couldn’t disclose Medicago’s other [...]

Vaccine technology company Heat Biologics has come into more money to help pay for clinical trials for its novel cancer-fighting immunotherapy.The North Carolina Biotechnology Center awarded the biotechnology company a $250,000 loan to cover some of the company’s trial expenses. Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based Heat is in the midst of a fundraising round expected to [...]

Biotechnology company Medicago (TSX:MDG), whose technology makes vaccines from tobacco leaves, now has an additional $11.1 million from an investor who knows a thing or two about the golden leaf: Philip Morris (NYSE:PM).Medicago shareholders approved the investment, the second tranche of a $22.5 million private placement with the tobacco giant. Philip Morris is acquiring 17.2 [...]

North Carolina nanotechnology company Liquidia Technologies is partnering with nonprofit organization PATH to develop a new pneumonia vaccine that could be deployed globally.Research Triangle Park-based Liquidia is working with PATH to conduct preclinical studies on a “next-generation” pneumococcal vaccine that could be more effective than existing vaccines and more efficient to produce. Financial terms of [...]

If a flu pandemic strikes the United States, a Novartis (NYSE:NVS) plant in North Carolina now stands ready to respond with vaccine techniques that offer speed and scalability advantages over traditional vaccine-making methods.Novartis’ vaccine facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina today became the first cell culture vaccine facility authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug [...]

GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) is trying again for approval of its meningitis vaccine candidate MenHibrix, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has twice declined.The British drug maker today submitted additional information to regulators that supports its biologics license application for the combination vaccine. GSK, which has its U.S. headquarters is in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, [...]

While the alleged link between vaccines — particularly the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine — and autism has been thoroughly discredited in more than 20 well-conducted studies of vaccine side effects [1], fears about the side effects of vaccination nevertheless remain a major factor influencing the healthcare decisions some parents make. This has led [...]

Biotechnology company Medicago (TSX:MDG) now has a facility that needs just 30 days to turn into new flu vaccine the plant that has been the cornerstone of North Carolina’s economy for hundreds of years.Medicago makes vaccine from the leaves of tobacco plants. The Quebec City, Canada company formally opened its new plant in Research Triangle [...]

Merck (NYSE:MRK) posted net income of $1.6 billion in the third quarter, eclipsing its performance for the same time last year, aided by its cervical cancer vaccine and strong growth in China.Revenue for the Whitehouse Station, New Jersey pharmaceutical company for the quarter rose 8 percent to $12 billion. Sales of combination diabetes drug Janumet [...]

A malaria vaccine being developed by GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) has reduced the malaria risks to children in Africa by half, according to initial phase 3 clinical trial results announced today.The trial results for the vaccine candidate RTS,S were published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The results were also announced at the Malaria [...]