·        US and Australia to develop type 1 diabetes vaccine—Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the US- based (international) Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) are to establish the world’s first autoimmune vaccine center in Australia, the Diabetes vaccine and immunotherapy research co-coordinating center(DVIRCC) . The NHMRC and the JDRF will provide Aus$ 5 million each over the next three years to fund research into developing a vaccine or preventative immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes, which is estimated to effect 100,000 Australian children and millions of people worldwide. The DVIRCC will be a free- standing entity with its own CEO reporting to an independent board. It is hoped that the center will be in operation by the end of the year.

SCRIP- world pharmaceutical news (scrip No. 2732 March 27^th 2002 p16)

·        Breakthrough in arthritis test—Scientists at Melbourne’s Austin Research Institute believe they have identified a new human receptor that is involved in the early development of inflammation. A drug has been shown to be effective in targeting this receptor by suppressing inflammation. The treatment is said to be effective much closer to the source of rheumatoid arthritis compared with existing drugs that concentrate on alleviating painful symptoms. The company commercializing the research, Arthron, a subsidiary of Melbourne- based biotechnology company Prima Biomed, stressed that this is still early stages as tests have only been conducted on mice bred with the human form of the receptor. “ This is the first treatment to show activity at such an early stage of the development of rheumatoid arthritis”, said Biomed ceo Marcus Clark.

Manufacturing Chemist April 2002, p12.