This was a cell-free vaccine in distinction to the live-cell Pasteur-style vaccine previously used for veterinary purposes. It is now manufactured by Porton Biopharma Ltd, a Company owned by the UK Department of Health. AVP is administered at primovaccination in three doses with a booster dose after six months. The active ingredient is a sterile filtrate of an alum-precipitated anthrax antigen from the Sterne strain in a solution for injection. The other ingredients are aluminium potassium sulphate, sodium chloride and purified water. The preservative is thiomersal (0.005%). The vaccine is given by intramuscular injection and the primary course of four single injections (3 injections 3 weeks apart, followed by a 6-month dose) is followed by a single booster dose given once a year. During the Gulf War (1990–1991), UK military personnel were given AVP concomitantly with the pertussis vaccine as an adjuvant to improve overall immune response and efficacy. American anthrax vaccines
The United States undertook basic research directed at producing a new anthrax vaccine during the 1950s and 60s. The product known as Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed (AVA)—trade name BioThrax—was licensed in 1970 by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and in 1972 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took over responsibility for vaccine licensure and oversight. AVA is produced from culture filtrates of an avirulent, nonencapsulated mutant of the B. anthracis Vollum strain known as V770-NP1-R. No living organisms are present in the vaccine which results in protective immunity after 3 to 6 doses.
Levamlodipine is an effective switch-over option for the elderly patients who experience oedema and other adverse events with racemic amlodipine. Safety and tolerability
The use of racemic amlodipine is commonly associated with adverse events like peripheral edema and other side effects like headache, dizziness, flushing and abdominal pain. Controlled clinical trials showed that levamlodipine is rarely associated with these side effects. No controlled clinical study of levamlodipine has been performed in patients with hepatic impairment and renal impairment. Clinical studies in patients with normal liver function have shown that there is no elevation in the hepatic enzymes with the use of levamlodipine. However, caution should be taken while administering levamlodipine to such patients. In a postmarketing surveillance study, levamlodipine (2.5/5 mg) was found to be well tolerated (n = 1859)  in patients with hypertension. Out of 314 patients, who reported peripheral edema with conventional amlodipine were switched over to levamlodipine and edema was resolved in 310 patients (98.72%) at the end of 4 weeks. Only in 4 patients was edema sustained. Only 30 patients (out of 1859) reported side effects. These side effects included vertigo, tachycardia, cough, headache, fever, mild difficulty in breathing and edema. Adverse events were mild in nature and no serious adverse events were reported. == References ==