The Return of Giorgio Chiellini

He is the world's best defender. He is the most important player for Juventus in their 3-5-2 system. And when he was down injured for 2 months, Juventus suffered. He was supposed to be out of action for 3 months - a return by March mid week - potentially missing the CL ties and crucial Serie A match against Napoli. However, he is back in action earlier than expected, comfortably playing 15 minutes in the game against Siena on Sunday. This will be a huge boost for the Bianconeri. 

Forza Giorgio!!

MVA85A, the much sought after TB vaccine, fails the trial

More than a dozen TB vaccines are now in clinical trials. But none of them seemed more sanguine than MVA85A. The vaccine was developed by researchers from University of Oxford and its safety and immunogenicity studies promised a very fruitful outcome since 2-3 years back. It passed its Phase 1 trial and Phase 2 trial was being conducted.

However, a recent article published in The Lancet, about the safety and efficacy of MVA85A, showed discouraging results. The study was a Phase 2b trial. This was the first efficacy trial of a new TB vaccine since Bacille Calmette-Guérin. Safety and immunogenicity were still proved to be very good but the efficacy was statistically insignificant. 

Dr Richard White, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Director of the TB Modelling and Analysis Consortium, said:

"This is a very disappointing result, but this was just the first of around 12 new tuberculosis vaccines currently being tested in humans and around 50 vaccine candidates currently being tested in the lab. It was a historic trial, the first of a new TB vaccine for nearly a century. It will lead to much valuable knowledge to help us design effective vaccines in the future. "

Hopefully......