AlphaVax Continues to Expand the Use of Its Vaccine Platform

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., June 6 /PRNewswire/ -- AlphaVax, Inc.
recently received notification from the National Institute of Allergies and
Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the granting institutes of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), that it has been awarded a second grant to
continue development of a smallpox vaccine based on AlphaVax's proprietary
vector platform. The grant will support additional studies in rodents and
non- human primates to further characterize the high-level protection
observed previously in these species.

Work completed during the first grant period demonstrated that
AlphaVax's smallpox vaccine, which expresses four, highly conserved
poxvirus proteins, could provide humoral responses comparable to those
obtained with a licensed vaccine. Furthermore, the AlphaVax vaccine
protected mice against vaccinia virus challenge and non-human primates
against a lethal challenge with monkeypox virus. The details of this work
will be presented by Dr. Kurt Kamrud, Director of Discovery Research at
AlphaVax and the Principal Investigator on both grants, at the XVII
International Poxvirus and Iridovirus Conference in Grainau, Germany on
June 7-12th, 2008.

"The work completed under the NIAID grant to date is an excellent
demonstration of the potential of our alphavirus vector platform to address
many different diseases as well as bioterrorism threats. We have shown
efficacy of this platform in numerous animal models and safety and
immunogenicity in three clinical trials to date. We look forward to working
with the U.S. Government to advance a new smallpox vaccine that has an
excellent safety profile and is capable of being rapidly manufactured using
AlphaVax's proprietary manufacturing process," said Dr. Jonathan F. Smith,
Chief Scientific Officer at AlphaVax.

About AlphaVax

AlphaVax, Inc. is a North Carolina-based, clinical-stage company that
uses a novel alphavirus vector platform technology that has proven to be
highly flexible and immunogenic, and allows the same manufacturing,
formulation, and delivery strategies to be applied to many different
products. The company employs staff with expertise spanning vaccine design,
process development, GMP manufacturing, quality assurance, and regulatory
and clinical affairs. In addition to cytomegalovirus, important disease
targets include influenza, cancer, HSV, RSV, and a number of biodefense
vaccine products. The AlphaVax headquarters and R&D facilities are located
in Research Triangle Park, and its GMP manufacturing facility is located in
Lenoir, NC.

About NIH Grant Support

The work described was supported by Grant Number UC1AI067183-01 from
the National Institute of Allergy And Infectious Diseases. The content of
this press release is solely the responsibility of AlphaVax and does not
necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of
Allergy And Infectious Diseases or the National Institutes of Health.

See Also:

• Tips on losing weight



• Best Tips to Get Rid of Cellulite



• Hair Removal With Eflornithine Hydrochloride- Effects



• How to Get Rid of Hemorrhoids?



• Internet Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Infections

[Via Healthcare]