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ImmunoVaccine Technologies Signs Agreement with National Institutes of Health to Explore Vaccines for HIV and Malaria

Posted on: Wednesday, 25 February 2009, 08:00 CST

HALIFAX, NS, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire/ - ImmunoVaccine Technologies Inc. (IVT), a vaccine development company, has signed a collaborative agreement with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in Maryland, USA. The research collaboration involves formulating NIAID antigens in DepoVax(TM), IVT's vaccine enhancement system, and exploring potential vaccines for HIV and malaria.

"NIAID is a world leader in the study of infectious and immune-mediated disease, and we look forward to seeing how our enhanced DepoVax(TM) delivery system augments this research," said Dr. Marc Mansour, vice president of R&D at IVT.

There are currently a limited number of vaccine formulations capable of inducing potent and durable T cell responses. Several vaccines in development, based on replication-defective adenovirus, are limited in their ability to be used repeatedly. There is an urgent need to develop protein vaccines that can induce antibody and T cell responses, and be used in combination with other vaccines. The goal of this pre-clinical research collaboration is to establish whether a novel vaccine formulation, in which a specified protein is formulated in DepoVax(TM), will induce stronger T cell responses compared to other protein-based formulations. Proteins from HIV, SIV and malaria will be tested.

ABOUT IVT

ImmunoVaccine Technologies Inc., winner of Canada's Top 10 Life Sciences Companies, is a privately held, vaccine development company. Through its own biotech research, patented VacciMax(R) and DepoVax(TM) technologies, and collaborations with partners, IVT creates vaccines with the potential to help save and improve lives around the world.

www.immunovaccine.com.

ABOUT NIAID and NIH

NIAID conducts and supports research-on the NIH campus, throughout the United States, and worldwide-to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. www.niaid.nih.gov. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)-The Nation's Medical Research Agency-includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments and cures for both common and rare diseases. www.nih.gov.

SOURCE ImmunoVaccine Technologies Inc.

Source: PR Newswire

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