November 25, 2012
With the holidays, health officials want adults - especially parents, favorite aunts and uncles and grandparents of newborns - to give those babies an extra gift. Tdap. Tdap is shorthand for tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis, the three-in-one booster vaccine that's given to adolescents and adults. It's increasingly important because pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is raging across the United States and Pennsylvania. Officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the contagious respiratory illness is reaching a 50-year high.
October 8, 2012
Senior citizens know they can't turn back the clock, but there is one way they can make their immune systems operate like a young person's — with a flu shot. Public health officials are again touting a high-dose influenza vaccine for seniors. The shot, made by Sanofi Pasteur Inc. in Swiftwater, is designed to create a stronger immune response in people who, because of age, don't have quite the virus-fighting capability they once had. "So many people don't understand that as they age, they are at higher risk for influenza and its complications," said Donna Cary, a Sanofi spokeswoman.
April 17, 2012
A study funded through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently reported what we've known at the Weller Health Education Center for a long time: Teen dating violence prevention in middle school matters. In the study, 37 percent of seventh-grade students reported being a victim of "psychological dating violence" and 15 percent a victim of "physical dating violence. " The Weller Health Education Center discovered this alarming trend through its own Pennsylvania health risk behavior survey sponsored by Sanofi Pasteur and the Verizon Foundation in 2008 and 2009.
October 12, 2010
After public anxiety over the threat of the H1N1 influenza — and last year's drawn-out vaccine shortage — public health officials this year are better armed with a ready supply of flu-fighting shots and mists. It's a good thing, too, since federal health authorities have expanded the list of people recommended to receive a vaccination to anyone six months or older, with few exceptions. Officials said they'll have plenty of vaccine for them all. That, said Dr. Luther V. Rhodes, chief of the Infectious Disease Division at Lehigh Valley Hospital, "should balance off some of the headaches everybody had last year.
October 8, 2010
Sanofi-Aventis SA, the world's fourth-biggest drugmaker and parent of Swiftwater vaccine-maker Sanofi Pasteur, says it is eliminating 1,700 jobs in its U.S. pharmaceutical business based in Bridgewater, N.J. The job cuts do not directly affect the company's vaccine division, which is one of Monroe County's largest employers, the company said. "The vaccines business is also addressing several challenges," Sanofi Pasteur said in a release Friday. "Currently, Sanofi Pasteur is evaluating its projects and resources to ensure they remain aligned with business needs in the U.S. and globally over the next several years.
September 2, 2010
Garibaldi Group announces sale of 384,000-square-foot building The Garibaldi Group/CORFAC International recently announced the sale of the 384,695-square-foot warehouse/distribution building at 9747 Commerce Circle, Wiesenberg Township. It was sold by Arcadia West Lot 5 LLC, an affiliate of Pritzker Realty Group and Higgins Development Partners to an affiliate of Endurance Real Estate Group, of Bala Cynwyd for $15.9 million. About 55 percent of the building is leased to TEVA, the pharmaceutical company.