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Through the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur), the Peruvian government recently presented a national "Safe Tourism" strategy to ensure a good travel experience for tourists visiting Peru.
The Safe Tourism program has three components: Security, Formalization, and Strengthening applied in Peru's 25 regions.
For example, Minister Luis Fernando Helguero announced on February 9, 2023, that critical tourist infrastructure works would be inaugurated in the San Martín region in the coming weeks for more than S/ 50 million (~$13 million).
Peru has also established safe tourist corridors from the airports to historic centers in cities like Cusco, Arequipa, Puno, and Tacna.
These actions are essential since protests continue across Southern Peru, including in Cusco, Arequipa, Puno, and Lima, as of mid-February 2023.
Unfortunately, Machu Picchu remains closed to visitors until further notice.
The U.K. says the following States of Emergency and curfews have been announced:
- A 60-day State of Emergency occurred on February 4, 2023, in Madre de Dios, Puno, Cusco, Apurimac, Arequipa, Moquegua, and Tacna regions.
- A 10-day curfew in the Puno region came into force from 8 pm to 4 am on February 4, 2023.
- A 30-day State of Emergency occurred on January 19, 2023, in Amazonas and La Libertad regions.
- A 30-day State of Emergency occurred on January 15 on the roads: the Carretera Panamericana Sur, the Carretera Panamericana Norte, the Carretera Central, the Corredor Vial Sur Apurimac-Cusco-Arequipa and the Corredor Vial Interoceanica Sur.
The U.K. confirmed on February 11, 2023, that travelers arriving in Peru should be aware that traveling to some parts of the country or returning to Lima may not be possible and should be prepared for delays or disruption.
And the U.S. Embassy in Peru website says visitors should avoid demonstrations, and should they encounter any, remain in a safe location. For emergencies involving American citizens in Peru, please email [email protected] or call +51-1-618-2000.
Nykode Therapeutics ASA today announced a collaboration with the GOG Foundation, Inc. to conduct a clinical trial of VB10.16 in combination with an immune checkpoint inhibitor for treating advanced cervical cancer in the U.S.
VB10.16 is a potentially first-in-class off-the-shelf therapeutic cancer vaccine candidate in development for treating human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16)-positive cancers.
The VB-C-04 trial will evaluate the combination therapies in patients with cervical cancer that have progressed following first-line treatment.
Nykode previously reported positive interim data from the Phase 2 VB-C-02 trial in Europe with women with heavily pre-treated advanced cervical cancer.
“Based on the positive interim data and in line with our potential registrational trial strategy, we look forward to starting the VB-C-04 trial in the U.S. The trial aims to provide a fast path to making VB10.16 available to patients,” stated Klaus Edvardsen, Chief Development Officer of Nykode Therapeutics, in a press release on February 10, 2023.
The cancer vaccine is designed based on Nykode’s Vaccibody™ technology platform of targeting antigens to antigen presenting cells.
VB10.16 has reported positive interim data from a Phase 2 trial in heavily pre-treated cervical cancer patients (NCT04405349).
The analysis demonstrated a favorable safety profile, with responses observed in both PD-L1 positive and negative patients (ORR 27% and 17%, respectively).
The vaccine-induced significant HPV16-specific T cell responses were associated with clinical responses.
The candidate has also demonstrated favorable clinical data in a Phase 1/2a study in pre-cancerous HPV16-induced high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (HSIL; CIN 2/3), demonstrating a statistically significant correlation of immune responses and clinical responses.
Since 1970, the GOG Foundation has conducted more than 350 clinical trials in the U.S. with 400 participating sites and 115,000 patients. The results of the GOG Foundation’s clinical trials have influenced the standard of care for numerous malignant gynecologic neoplasms.
Additional HPV vaccine news is posted at PrecisionVaccinations.com/HPV.
A clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company today announced the publication of a paper entitled "Single Dose of Recombinant Chimeric Horsepox Virus (TNX‐801) Vaccination Protects Macaques from Lethal Monkeypox Challenge" in the journal peer-review journal Viruses.
Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. confirmed the publication demonstrates that a single dose vaccination with TNX‐801 was effective at protecting non-human primates from infection with the mpox virus.
David Evans, Ph.D., FCAHS, Professor and former Vice-Dean (Research) Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta and an investigator in the study and author of the publication, stated in a press release on February 9, 2023, "It is often forgotten that vaccines don't always produce sterilizing immunity and so it's very exciting to be able to report that a horsebox-based vaccine works so well in such a challenging infection model."
The publication describes data from animals in which eight of eight vaccinated with TNX-801 were fully protected with sterilizing immunity from a challenge with intra-tracheal monkeypox (central African, Congo Basin, clade).
These data show that the immunity generated by TNX‐801 was able to protect against a lethal challenge with the mpox virus and is the first study to demonstrate the efficacy of TNX‐801 vaccination against the mpox virus challenge in a non‐human primate model.
Synthetic horsepox virus is the basis for the Company's TNX-801 vaccine in development to protect against mpox and smallpox and for the Company's Recombinant Pox Virus platform to protect against other pathogens.
Additional mpox vaccine development news is posted at PrecisionVaccinations. And MpoxToday.com publishes updated research.
On February 5, 2023, @Senasa_Peru tweeted that three dead sea lions and one dolphin had tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HAPI) H5N1 virus.
By November 30, 2022, HAPI had been reported in Ecuador and Peru related to about 14,000 pelican fatalities.
These reports indicate the ongoing HAPI outbreak has impacted numerous mammals throughout North and South America over the past year.
The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service listing in 2023 includes about 110 H5N1 detections in skunks, bears, raccoons, and foxes confirmed in 2022.
USDA stated the Eurasian H5N1 strain initially appeared in North America in January 2022 and has affected 47 states, leading to the loss of over 58.2 million birds as of February 4, 2023.
As of February 2023, global surveillance data does not suggest widespread mammalian adaptation of the HAPI virus (low to moderate confidence), says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
However, seven human infections in 2022 were related to the HAPI.
Should a HAPI crossover outbreak occur in people, the CDC says one approved bird flu vaccine is available in the U.S., but with distribution controlled by the government.
The Audenz™ monovalent, adjuvanted, cell-based inactivated influenza (H5N1) subunit vaccine was approved in 2020 to protect individuals six months of age and older in the event of bird flu pandemics.
Other bird flu vaccine candidates and monoclonal antibody treatments were funded in 2022 and are in development.
According to reporting by Fierce Biotech, Merck Inc. confirmed on February 2, 2023, that it had discontinued the chikungunya vaccine candidate development program as part of a "routine pipeline prioritization."
While the vaccine candidate completed a phase 2 clinical trial, the study was suspended "due to a clinical stock recovery action," meaning it did not reach its original participant enrollment goal.
Merck's contender V184 was acquired through a $366 million takeover of Themis Inc. in 2020.
The chikungunya vaccine development race is led by Valneva SE, which completed the rolling submission of the VLA1553 vaccine's Biologics License Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2022.
As of February 3, 2023, the FDA has not approved any chikungunya vaccine candidates.
This mosquito-transmitted disease remains a public health risk.
The Pan American Health Organization reported that in 2022, 87 fatalities were associated with chikungunya infections in the Americas last year.
Other chikungunya vaccine candidate news is posted at Vax-Before-Travel.com.
A biotechnology company today announced positive results from a limited clinical trial evaluating a DNA vaccine candidate as a booster targeting the Zaire Ebolavirus.
This placebo-controlled Phase, 1b trial assesses its safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity in healthy adult participants who previously received a single injection of Merck's Ervebo®, a vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of disease caused by Zaire ebolavirus.
In the trial, INOVIO Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s INO-4201 vaccine candidate was well-tolerated and boosted humoral responses in 100% (36 of 36) of study participants.
INO-4201 is a DNA vaccine targeting Zaire Ebola virus (ZEBOV) glycoprotein, designed to prevent ZEBOV infection. It encodes for a synthetic consensus antigen encompassing ZEBOV genetic variability from various outbreak strains to broaden immune coverage for divergent ZEBOV virus variants.
The participants were dosed with 1 mg of INO-4201 injected intradermally, followed by electroporation using our investigational proprietary smart device, CELLECTRA®.
Dr. Angela Huttner, MD, Infectious Disease Consultant, Geneva University Hospitals, and the study's lead investigator, commented in a press release on February 2, 2023, "INO-4201 was well-tolerated and all treated participants responded to the booster vaccine."
"These are encouraging results since our participants were initially vaccinated with Ervebo three to seven years ago."
"We remain grateful to our participants for their critical role in developing this vaccine candidate, which we hope will be a key player in future Ebola Virus Disease prevention."
This news is essential since recent research suggests dormant Ebola virus in a previously infected survivor could re-emerge up to nearly five years later and again allow human-to-human transmission Keita et al. Nature (Sept. 15, 2021).
The Ebola virus is classified as a Category A Priority Pathogen by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This designation indicates a national security risk.
The Ebola virus family includes four virus species that cause periodic outbreaks of a highly contagious and lethal human infectious disease – called Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).
The virus is transmitted from wild animals to people and then easily spreads via human-to-human transmission.
Ebola outbreak news from 2022 and 2023 are posted at Vax-Before-Travel.com/Ebola.
The trial was spearheaded by Global Urgent and Advanced Research and Development, sponsored by Geneva University Hospitals, and funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
INOVIO is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing DNA medicines. For more information, visit www.inovio.com.
