Vical to present preclinical results of HSV-2 vaccine program at Keystone Symposium

Oct 27 2010

Vical Incorporated (Nasdaq:VICL) today announced that the company's Vice President of Clinical Development, Richard T. Kenney, M.D., is presenting preclinical results from the company's herpes simplex type 2 (HSV-2) vaccine program in a poster session Friday morning at the Keystone Symposium on Immunological Mechanisms of Vaccination (Seattle, October 27 – November 1).

The poster expands on data presented in July at the International Herpes Workshop, where Vical announced that its prophylactic Vaxfectin^®-formulated plasmid DNA vaccine against HSV-2 protected mice against lethal challenge, provided sterilizing immunity and inhibited viral counts at both the primary and latent infection sites. The company's Vaxfectin^® adjuvant significantly improved vaccine effectiveness (p<0.05). A related vaccine significantly reduced the recurrence of HSV-2 lesions in a therapeutic model using guinea pigs with latent infection (p<0.05).

HSV-2 is a sexually transmitted virus which is the leading cause of genital herpes. Approximately one out of every six individuals in the United States and an estimated one out of every four worldwide is infected by HSV-2 before age 50. HSV-2 infection also significantly increases the risk of acquiring HIV-1.

The preclinical development is being funded under a two-year, $2.0 million Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant awarded in 2008 by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The grant period was extended to allow preclinical development to continue for a third year. The $2.0 million Phase II STTR grant supplements the $0.3 million awarded to Vical in 2005 for the HSV-2 vaccine program under a Phase I STTR grant from the NIAID, which partially funded Vical's initial development of the HSV-2 vaccine.

The initial preclinical development activities covered by the $2.0 million grant are being conducted at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development, both centers of excellence in herpes virus research. The vaccine is being designed primarily for use in people already infected with HSV-2, with the goal of reducing or eliminating periodic viral flare-ups and the associated viral shedding and transmission.