Coming Soon: AIDS Vaccine?

AIDS. Genital herpes. Urinary tract infections. Many such horrors could be a thing of the past in as little as five years, reports the Huffington Post. With prescription drug sales slowing, capitalism and fear over the Aporkalypse have effectively given the vaccine industry a shot in the arm (har har, I had to, get over it).

“Even if a small portion of everything that’s going on now is successful in the next 10 years, you put that together with the last 10 years (and) it’s going to be characterized as a golden era,” says Emilio Emini, Pfizer Inc.’s head of vaccine research.

Unlike medicines that treat diseases, vaccines help prevent infections by revving up the body’s natural immune defenses against invaders. They are made from viruses, bacteria or parts of them that have been killed or weakened so they generally can’t cause an infection.

The last decade brought breakthrough vaccines against pneumococcal disease and rotavirus – two of the world’s top killers – meningitis, cervical cancer and more.

Better technology to create and mass produce vaccines is bringing progress in preventing tropical dengue fever and new threats like superbugs MRSA and C. difficile, even ending addiction to cocaine and nicotine. Success on some vaccines in development, particularly for Alzheimer’s and AIDS, likely would bring billions a year in sales.

Information via The Huffington Post.