Viral disease

• BOSTON, Nov. 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Novotech, the leading Asia Pacific centred biotech CRO with global execution capabilities, today published the latest 2023 global clinical trial environment whitepaper focused on infectious diseases.
• This helps to contribute to the advancement of knowledge of the clinical trials industry.
• The Infectious Diseases - Global Clinical Trial Environment (2018~2023) whitepaper offers a comprehensive assessment of the global clinical trial landscape.
• Other infectious diseases (16%), including protozoal infections, targeted a variety of agents that caused considerable morbidity, particularly in resource-limited areas.

• Costs have at least quadrupled every decade since 1970 and that trend is set to continue.
• Stopping pests and diseases arriving and establishing in Australia is not only better for the environment, it’s much cheaper too.
• Read more:
  The true damage of invasive alien species was just revealed in a landmark report.

One of the biggest threats to biodiversity

• Invasive alien species include weeds, feral animals, exotic pests and diseases.
• Invasive species are pushing most (82%) of Australia’s 1,914 nationally listed threatened species closer to extinction.
• Read more:
  1.7 million foxes, 300 million native animals killed every year: now we know the damage foxes wreak

1. Giant African land snail

Giant African snails have a ferocious appetite. They feed on more than 500 species of plants including agricultural crops and eucalyptus trees. The shells of these giants can be 20cm long and females typically lay 1,200 eggs a year. Adult snails could sneak into shipping containers or machinery and their eggs could be transported in soil or goods. They are now present on Christmas Island.

2. Avian influenza

• Avian influenza or bird-flu is a viral disease found in birds.
• Some strains can kill farmed poultry and susceptible wild birds.
• Read more:
  Migrating birds could bring lethal avian flu to Australia's vulnerable birds

3. New tramp ants

• We’re already battling some species of tramp ants, but there’s more where that came from - there are at least 16 different species.
• On Christmas Island, another tramp ant species (yellow crazy ants) formed “super colonies”, killing every animal in their path, including tens of millions of the island’s iconic red and robber crabs.

4. Bat white nose syndrome

White nose syndrome is a bat disease caused by a fungus. In less than 20 years it has killed more than five million bats across North America, causing local extinctions and reducing the beneficial services performed by bats such as eating harmful insects. The fungus could be introduced to Australian caves on the shoes, clothing and equipment of people who had previously visited caves in Europe or North America.

5. Crayfish plague

A highly infectious fungal disease, crayfish plague is the main cause of crayfish declines across Europe. It has the potential to devastate Australian freshwater crayfish populations. North American crayfish can be carriers of the disease and the illegal trade of crayfish, such as the dwarf Cajun crayfish for aquariums, also threatens to introduce the disease.

6. New myrtle rust strains

• When a strain of myrtle rust arrived in Australia in 2010, it spread quickly along the east coast, infecting 358 different native plant species including eucalypts, bottle brushes and lilly pillies.
• Other exotic myrtle rust strains occur outside Australia.

7. Savannah cats

• Savannah cats are two to three times the size of domestic cats.
• In 2008 the federal government banned the importation of savannah cats.

8. Black spined toad

• The black spined toad is potentially more damaging than the cane toad because it could survive across a bigger region including in the colder parts of Australia.
• It would prey on native frogs and other small animals, be toxic to larger animals, and probably carry exotic parasites or disease.

Prioritising nature

• Historically, the environment has also been the poor cousin of agriculture at the biosecurity table.
• Preparedness and responses for environmental threats remain chronically underfunded, especially when compared to those developed for industry.
• She previously worked for the now ended Threatened Species Recovery Hub of the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program.

• Trethera’s first-in-class small molecule, TRE-515, holds the only FDA Orphan Drug designation for Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM), an acute neurologic disease principally of children.
• ADEM is an autoimmune disease that can present with fever and difficulty walking as well as loss of consciousness and coma.
• The grant will advance IND enabling studies for a disease where no approved therapies currently exist.
• Furthermore, should the FDA approve TRE-515 for commercial use in ADEM, Trethera would be eligible for a pediatric priority review voucher.

• SYDNEY, Australia, Aug. 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Recce Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: RCE, FSE: R9Q), the Company developing a new class of synthetic anti-infectives, is pleased to announce the Australian Patent Office has formally granted Recce a new family four patent, “Process for Preparation of Biologically Active Copolymer,” with expiry in 2041.
• “We are thrilled to receive this new family of intellectual property, granted by the Australian Patent Office, with further market monopolies reinforcing opportunities among a significant range of bacterial and viral pathogens,” said James Graham, Chief Executive Officer of Recce Pharmaceuticals.
• Viral infections may be caused by a range of viruses, such as coated viruses (e.g., lipid-coated viruses), including herpes, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cytomegalovirus, and influenza.
• Other examples include Influenza A, Ross River virus, and coronavirus, including those responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).