Do we get first dibs?
It was announced today that SIGA Technologies, a biotech firm with research facilities in Corvallis, will receive $4.8 million in federal funds over the next three years to further research and clinical trials in the quest for an effective smallpox treatment. The grant was awarded by the National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research program.
Smallpox was officially eradicated in the 1970s, but after the anthrax attacks in 2001 (which remain unsolved), concerns about anthrax, smallpox and other agents being used in widescale bioterrorism attacks prompted the Centers for Disease Control and several private companies to ramp up research into preventative, curative and palliative therapies. SIGA has already completed the first round of human safety clinical trials for one of their anti-smallpox retroviral agents.
Smallpox may have been the most successful biological warfare agent in history, although largely unintentional. With this research being conducted right here in Corvallis, maybe we'll be spared the fate of the Aztecs.
Smallpox was officially eradicated in the 1970s, but after the anthrax attacks in 2001 (which remain unsolved), concerns about anthrax, smallpox and other agents being used in widescale bioterrorism attacks prompted the Centers for Disease Control and several private companies to ramp up research into preventative, curative and palliative therapies. SIGA has already completed the first round of human safety clinical trials for one of their anti-smallpox retroviral agents.
Smallpox may have been the most successful biological warfare agent in history, although largely unintentional. With this research being conducted right here in Corvallis, maybe we'll be spared the fate of the Aztecs.
posted by Corvallist at
8:33 PM
5 Comments:
Europeans had developed resistance to smallpox over the years. Aztecs never had encountered smallpox prior to meeting the Spanish, so they had no ability to resist it.
If smallpox reemerged, Americans would still have a fair amount of resistance to it, so we wouldn't suffer the fate of the Aztecs.
Or were you just making a joke?
By
Christopher Farrell, at 12:00 AM
Well, I was trying to. Apparently it didn't work. ;)
By
Corvallist, at 1:45 AM
cant help but notice when you two comment on each others blogs, there is a sense of hostility, or is tht marriage humor? forget it....i am divorced, must be just me.
By
Anonymous, at 2:49 PM
Huh? I'm not sure who you think I am, but I've been divorced for 10 years and have never met Mr. Farrell in person, at least not that I'm aware of. But you win a prize for weirdest comment yet!
By
Corvallist, at 11:00 PM
oh, i see. a little god complex humor there.
By
Anonymous, at 12:23 PM
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