Brazil and US university reach deal on Zika vaccine
Source: AP/Yahoo
Associated Press By JOSHUA GOODMAN
53 minutes ago
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil has signed an agreement with the University of Texas Medical Branch to develop a vaccine against the Zika virus, adding the goal is for the vaccine to be ready for clinical testing within 12 months.
Health Minister Marcelo Castro said at a news conference that the government will invest $1.9 million in the research, which will be jointly conducted by the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and the Evandro Chagas Institute in the Amazonian city of Belem.
He said the Health Ministry also has reached vaccine partnerships with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is looking to work with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline because of its role developing a vaccine against Ebola after a deadly outbreak in West Africa in 2014.
Brazil's Zika outbreak has become a public health crisis since researchers here linked the mosquito-borne virus to a surge in a rare birth defects compromising infants' brains. The connection has yet to be scientifically proven, but the CDC has pointed to strong evidence of a link between the two and called on pregnant women to avoid travel to 22 countries and territories in the Americas with active outbreaks.
Brazilian officials have previously said any vaccine for Zika could take as many as five years but Castro on Thursday said he was more optimistic, saying that it could be ready for distribution within three years.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/brazil-university-texas-reach-deal-zika-vaccine-135957875.html
