New Data Support AlphaVax's Vaccine for CMV
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., February 19, 2007 /PRNewswire/ -- AlphaVax Inc.'s novel alphavaccine technology has been shown to be effective in generating protection against congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease in a preclinical study published in the March 15, 2007 issue of the Journal of Infectious Disease, the on-line version of which was distributed on February 14.
In the study, guinea pigs immunized with the CMV alphavaccine before becoming pregnant and infected with CMV had greatly reduced amounts of virus in their blood and gave birth to significantly more live pups compared to guinea pigs not receiving the vaccine. The guinea pig model is used for preclinical testing of novel vaccines because the guinea placenta is similar to that of humans.
"CMV is recognized by the Institute of Medicine as a disease of major public health importance," said Dr. Jeff Chulay, AlphaVax's Chief Medical Officer.
The vaccine in this study was developed in collaboration with Mark Schleiss, M.D., American Legion Endowed Chair in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. "This is the first demonstration that protection from congenital CMV can be achieved using a vaccine that targets the cellular arm of the immune response," said Dr. Schleiss.
AlphaVax recently announced the acceptance of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin clinical trials evaluating a vaccine for CMV developed with the company's alphavaccine technology. "These data give us additional confidence as we prepare to enter clinical trials with an alphavaccine for human CMV," said Dr. Chulay.
About AlphaVax
AlphaVax, Inc is a North Carolina-based, clinical-stage company focused on developing new vaccine products for infectious diseases, biodefense and cancer.
AlphaVax uses a novel alphavirus vector platform technology that has proven to be highly flexible and immunogenic, and allows the same manufacturing process and formulation strategies to be applied to many different products.
In addition to partnered programs, important alphavaccine disease targets include influenza, cytomegalovirus, cancer and HIV and, as well as a number of biodefense vaccine products. The AlphaVax headquarters and R&D facility is located in Research Triangle Park, NC, and its GMP manufacturing facility is located in Lenoir, NC. The company employs 77 staff with expertise spanning vaccine design, process development, GMP manufacturing, quality assurance, and regulatory and clinical affairs.
CONTACT: Jeff Chulay of AlphaVax, +1-919-595-0399
Web site: http://www.alphavax.com/
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