( dministration of one of the serotype to...)DOR BioPharma Announces Publication Describing Results of Its,Multivalent Botulinum Toxin Vaccine BT-VACC,Health

About Botulinum Toxin

Botulinum toxin is an extremely potent neurotoxin of bacterial origin that inhibits peripheral nerve function, causing severe and often fatal descending flaccid paralysis. Natural botulism resulting from ingestion of toxin from contaminated food is very rare, but artificially, botulism also can result from bioterrorism and biowarfare. Because extremely small amounts can cause neurological effects, it is classified as a category A Biothreat by the CDC. The toxin can enter the body very efficiently through lung tissue and through the gastrointestinal tract, making the threat of purposeful food contamination a real possibility for use of the toxin as a biological weapon. Because the toxin rapidly enters target neural cells, exposure is difficult to treat with any available therapeutic regimen other than supportive care. In extremely minute quantities, botulinum toxin can be used therapeutically, as for the cosmetic use of Botox®, a commercial preparation of serotype A botulinum toxin, but the effects of the neurotoxin are extremely long lasting and paralytic at higher than therapeutic doses.

About Botulinum Toxin Vaccines

Vaccination is considered the best option to prevent neurological effects of toxin exposure. Because of the rarity of the natural disease, a vaccine would not be used in mass population immunization programs unless they were actually used or a significant threat. In that event, the vaccine would have to be made available for widespread dissemination for rapid and convenient vaccination of a large population. The only vaccine available is an experimental vaccine based on inactivation of a mixture of serotypes of the natural toxins that is given by injection, is not licensed by the FDA and cannot be used for widespread immunization. New multivalent vaccine
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