Passive immunization, passive immunity, and passive immunotherapy all refer to the transfer of antibodies to an unprotected individual for the prevention or treatment of disease. The first formal demonstration of passive immunization involved successful treatment of diphtheria and tetanus in…
In addition to one or more immunogens, * * An immunogen is a preparation consisting of all or a portion of a disease-containing organism, or the nucleic acid that encodes one or more of the proteins from that organism, or…
Adjuvants are substances that are added to vaccine antigens to enhance and modulate the immunogenicity of its antigen. The first adjuvants developed focused on increasing antibody responses, and this has often been sufficient for the vaccines considered. During the last…
The vast majority of the more than 5 billion doses of vaccines manufactured worldwide each year are given to perfectly healthy people. It is this fact that drives the requirements for vaccines to be among the most rigorously designed, monitored,…
The vaccine industry is composed of companies that are engaged in any of the following activities: research (including that performed in industry and biotech), development, manufacture, sales, marketing, or distribution of vaccines. They receive their revenue chiefly from sales of…
Peter Gilbert, PhD Professor Biostatistics Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle Washington United States Research Professor Biostatistics University of Washington, Seattle Washington United States The determination of a correlate of protection (CoP) by a vaccine is often critical to its development,…
INTRODUCTION In addition to protecting against their target disease, vaccines can induce changes in the immune system that have broader effects. As early as in the 1800s, it was noted that smallpox vaccination was associated with protection against unrelated infections.…
Generating vaccine-mediated protection is a complex challenge. Up to the year 2000, vaccines have largely been developed empirically, with little or no understanding of how they activate the immune system. Subsequently, the antigens to be included in vaccines such as…
Vaccination as a deliberate attempt to protect humans against disease has a short history when measured against the myriad years that humans have sought to rid themselves of plagues and pestilence. Only in the 20th century did the practice flower…