Integrated BioTherapeutics to develop vaccine
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The global economic turmoil is likely to take its toll on AIDS research funding and add to the problems plaguing the search for a vaccine against the virus, scientists warned Tuesday. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it was impossible to predict whether
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The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has asked Integrated BioTherapeutics Inc. to develop a vaccine that protects against Ebola and Marburg viruses.
The Germantown-based company will get $22 million under the multiyear contract, and if options are exercised, could get $65 million.
Ebola and Marburg, which are considered bioterrorist threats, lead to death 30 percent to 90 percent of the time that they are contracted, and there are currently no vaccines or therapeutics to treat infected humans.
“This is a significant step forward in our mission to improving public health and developing medical countermeasures for biodefense,” said Dr. Javad Aman, president and chief scientific officer of IBT, in a statement.
Aman’s research-based biotech will work with the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases to develop a subunit vaccine, based on virus-like particles, with activity toward different strains of the viruses.
Other collaborating organizations include Protein Sciences Corp. in Meriden, Conn.; Aridis Pharmaceuticals in San Jose, Calif.; Baylor College of Medicine in Houston; and AMAR International in Fairfax.
IBT will spend the $22 million to conduct pre-clinical activities.
After those studies, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases may exercise options to the contract that go as far as a Phase 2 clinical trial.
This summer, IBT moved its headquarters from the Frederick Innovative Technology Center.
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