GenVec receives extra funding for adenovector-based HIV vaccines program

GenVec, Inc. has announced that the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has executed its sixth option period (year seven) under its multi-year collaboration with GenVec to develop and manufacture novel adenovector-based HIV vaccines.

GenVec will receive up to $1.9 million over the next year, which will support continued development of next-generation vaccines for HIV and influenza. Initiated in 2001 as a three- year $10.2 million program, the VRC subcontract now extends through fiscal year 2008, with a total value of approximately $55 million. It was issued and is managed by Science Applications International Corporation-Frederick, Inc. (SAIC-Frederick).

The vaccines developed with the VRC under this multi-year contract utilize GenVec ' s proprietary adenovector and 293-ORF6 production cell line technologies. The funds received to date have been used primarily to produce HIV candidates for the Phase I and Phase II clinical trials being sponsored by the VRC and its collaborators, and to produce a number of next generation concepts some of which are in pre-clinical evaluation. To date, the Ad5 HIV vaccine candidates produced by GenVec has been administered to approximately 1,400 volunteers in 14 clinical trials.

“ We are pleased to have the VRC ' s continued support for our efforts to develop novel vaccine candidates, ” stated Douglas J. Swirsky, GenVec ' s Chief Financial Officer. “ This productive long-term collaboration has enabled us to advance our manufacturing processes, upgrade quality control and assurance operations, and establish a BLA Master File at the FDA. The valuable knowledge and experience we gain in developing vaccines is being leveraged across our technology platform, for the benefit of TNFerade and our other novel therapeutics in development. ”