Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/922283
wbjournal.com | January 8, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 11 Committed to the success of your business 89 Shrewsbury St. Suite 200 • Worcester, MA 01604 508-755-7107 • www.bolluslynch.com BOLLUS LYNCH CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS & CONSULTANTS And proud to be once again voted Best Accounting Firm in 2017 BOB A W A R D S B E S T O F B U S I N E S S pigs and rodents. He's been working in collaboration with another UMass researcher, Gary Ostroff. A drug, known by the acronym IBaCC, would be given to those where hookworm is deemed most prevalent. Hurdles remain in bringing the drug to market. It needs to be made cheap, safe, easily scaled up to large quantities, stable dur- ing transportation and able to sit on a shelf for years, possibly in high tempera- tures and humidity, Aroian said. IBaCC – pronounced eye-back – is safe, but it still needs to meet those other challenges. Getting to FDA approval could take another $1 million to $5 million, Aroian said. "This is really about the children in the world who through no fault of their own are so badly harmed," Aroian said. "You don't get a fair shot at life, period." If things fall into place, Aroian said, the drug could hit the market within a year or two. Hookworms & diphtheria, by the numbers UMass Medical School researchers are working to tackle diseases Americans rarely, if ever, need to worry about, including diphtheria and hookworm. Yet, both diseases are still major concerns in much of the developing world. Source: World Health Organization 1.5 billion People worldwide infected with soil-transmitted worms such as hookworms or roundworms. 20% Rate of infections in a community when medical personnel are advised to begin providing treatments to an area's entire population. 7,097 Reported cases of diphtheria worldwide in 2016. 86% Portion of the world's infants immunized against diphtheria. 19.5 million Infants worldwide who are missing out on basic vaccines for diphtheria. 1.5 million Deaths potentially avoided if global diphtheria vaccination coverage improves. School-age children who live in areas where these parasites are intensively transmitted. 568 million (Above) Haitian mothers waiting on diphtheria vaccinations. (Left) Centers for Disease Control responds to a diphtheria outbreak in Indonesia. W