• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Etubics Awarded Grant From the National Institute of Health for Continued Development of HIV Vaccine

Posted on: Thursday, 23 August 2007, 06:13 CDT

Etubics Corporation, a Seattle-based biopharmaceutical company, has announced that it has received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the amount of $600,000. The grant will be used to expand Etubics' next generation HIV vaccine into the immune targets Pol and Nef.

"We are pleased that the NIAID scientific review board has found significant merit in our HIV vaccine development program," said Dr. Frank Jones, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Etubics. "The award enables Etubics to extend its Vironix-HIV-gag vaccine platform to other HIV targets such as Pol and Nef, potentially increasing the potency of the vaccine."

Etubics announced its HIV vaccine pre-clinical results earlier this week at the AIDS Vaccine 2007 Conference, held in Seattle, Washington. Etubics has been able to demonstrate that the Vironix-HIV vaccine may solve some of the barriers to commercially viable vaccine products. The NIAID grant will allow Etubics vaccine to be moved one step closer to clinical trials concentrating on the Gag, Pol and Nef HIV targets. The Vironix-HIV gag vaccine is currently in non-human primate trials.

"My team and I have invested many years of research toward development of the adenovirus vector platform that supports the Vironix-HIV vaccine and I am happy to see it moving forward toward the clinics," said Dr. Andrea Amalfitano, Professor of Pediatrics, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Michigan State University and Chairman of Etubics' Scientific Board as well as a patent holder and creator of the Etubics technology.

Recently, Etubics has strengthened its outside Board of Directors by adding members C. Thomas Caskey, M.D., director and CEO-elect of the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, part of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and John Abeles, M.D., director of publicly traded Oryx Technology. Dr. Frank R. Jones, a founder, Jack H. Halperin, Esq. and Dr. Richard Gayle will continue on the Board of Directors for Etubics.

About Etubics

Etubics is a Seattle-based biopharmaceutical firm that concentrates on developing "next generation" protective and therapeutic vector vaccines that stimulate cell-mediated immunity. These "next generation" vaccines are able to be rapidly manufactured in high volumes and are designed to respond to emerging infectious diseases, such as influenza, HIV, certain bioterrorism agents and certain cancers. Etubics was established in 2005, by Dr. Frank Jones, using technology from the University of Michigan, and is currently engaged in research, development and commercialization of its proprietary and novel adenovirus vector vaccine products. For more information on Etubics, visit www.etubics.com.

Statements herein relating to future financial, business performance, conditions or strategies and other financial and business matters, including expectations regarding future revenues and operating expenses, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Etubics is a private company. Etubics cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties which change over time. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements or historical experience include risks and uncertainties, including the failure by Etubics to secure and maintain relationships with collaborators; risks relating to the early state of Etubics' product candidates under development; uncertainties relating to clinical trials; risks relating to the commercialization, if any, of Etubics proposed candidates; dependence on the efforts of third parties; dependence on intellectual property; and risks that it may lack the financial resources and access to capital to fund its operations. Further information on the factors and risks that could affect Etubics business, financial conditions and results of operations, are contained in Etubics' documents on file at the Company. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and Etubics assumes no duty to update forward-looking statements.

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category