New US system investigating reactions to vaccines
The US Department of Health and Human Services has set of a Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a single central body to accept all reports of suspected adverse reactions to vaccines, even from patients. This replaces two systems operated by the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration, which mainly received reports from health care providers and manufacturers, who are required by law to do so.
And speaking of vaccines, Wellcome, the only pharmaceutical company with a British product licence for vaccines against DTP, typhoid, cholera and yellow fever, is quitting the vaccine business. This void is expected to be filled by French company Merieux, which has, among others, a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Wellcome, meanwhile, has decided to concentrate on its cardiovascular drugs and its lucrative new area: drugs against AIDs.