Dear Reader,
Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics regularly publishes Issues with a Special Focus on timely and important topics in the field of vaccines and immunotherapy. The current issue features a Special Focus on Allergy Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics. Allergy is a highly prevalent condition in the industrialized world, and allergen-specific immunotherapy should be the preferred treatment, given that it has long lasting protective effects and can stop progression of the disease. The latest research and knowledge in this field has been summarized in nine Special Focus Reviews. Many different aspects are discussed, including vaccine and immunotherapeutics development for grass pollen allergy (Claire Mailhol and Alain Didier, p. 1544), house dust allergy (Wayne Thomas, p. 1469), food allergy (McWilliams, et al. p. 1479), allergic respiratory disease (Antonio Cappella and Stephen Durham, p. 1499) and drug allergy (Richard Warrington, p. 1513); as well as adjuvants for allergy vaccines (Philippe Moingeon, p. 1492), recombinant allergens (Marek Jutel et al., p. 1534), immune tolerance to allergens (Thomas Eiwegger, et al. p. 1485), and new routes for allergen immunotherapy (Pål Johansen et al., p. 1525).
The two previous issues (August and September) featured a comprehensive series of commentaries on vaccines and immunotherapeutics for the treatment of cancer, highlighting nearly two decades of research and clinical development programs. As a continuation of this previous series, the current issue presents a commentary by Dr Alex Kudrin, Consultant in Pharmaceutical Medicine (London, UK), on the very interesting topic of “Business models and opportunities for cancer vaccine developers”.
Furthermore, the current issue contains two meeting reports from the Phacilitate Immunotherapy Leaders’ Forum 2012, which was held in Barcelona in May this year. This meeting brings together companies and scientists active in developing novel immunotherapies. While most sessions and workshops circled around the scientific advances and advances in product development in the immunotherapy field, this year’s meeting also included some presentations on funding and financial market aspects. Dr Olav Zilian (Geneva, Switzerland) reports about the scope for innovation in immunotherapy from the financial market’s point of view, and Dr Klaus Breiner (Zurich, Switzerland) discusses dilutive and non-dilutive funding sources for immunotherapy projects.
As usual, our monthly News, Policy and Profiles (NPP) section provides you with a selection of the latest news in the field of vaccines and immunotherapeutics. This section also features Profiles of companies and organizations active in vaccinology and/or immunotherapy, and opinion pieces on timely, interesting or controversial topics in the field of vaccines and immunotherapy. Please contact the Acquisitions Editor Eva Riedmann ([email protected]) with your suggestions and ideas.
Finally, we want to remind you that HV&I has recently lowered its open access (OA) fees significantly. The cost to make an original research paper OA is $750, reviews are $500 and all other types of papers, the OA fee is $250. With this step we want to acknowledge that many scientists wish for free access to and distribution of published articles.
HV&I offers several popular web site features to our readers: With our iPad application you can read the full issue of HV&I anywhere, just as you would the print issue. Subscribe to our RSS feed to see the latest published papers and “Like” us on facebook for daily updates.
Sincerely,
Ronald Ellis PhD.
Editor-in-Chief
Eva M. Riedmann PhD.
Acquisitions Editor