SEATTLE--(BW HealthWire)--June 11, 2001--Corixa Corporation (Nasdaq:CRXA - news), a developer of immunotherapeutics, today announced it has been awarded a $3.5 million, two year contract from the Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center San Diego for a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) sponsored program to develop methods of enhancing immune responses to infectious diseases, including agents of biological warfare.
As a result, Corixa will conduct preclinical testing of its proprietary portfolio of synthetic lipid A-like immunomodulatory agents, or AGP(s), to enhance innate immune responses. These drugs act on a newly recognized family of receptors, called Toll-like receptors, to generate protective immunity to a wide variety of infectious agents. Certain Toll-like receptors are present in the upper airways and stimulation of these receptors may induce the immune system to prevent infections of various types, especially those transmitted by inhalation. Corixa scientists have already demonstrated that administration of some of these potential drugs by the intranasal route is highly efficient at protecting against influenza virus infection in experimental animal models.
``We are pleased to have been selected as a recipient of a DARPA contract,'' said David H. Persing, M.D., Ph.D, vice president of antigen discovery and diagnostics development at Corixa and principal investigator on the contract. ``This project represents the latest development-stage application of Corixa's proprietary family of synthetic immunomodulators for the treatment and prevention of infectious disease. We are pleased that DARPA recognizes the potential value of these compounds for eventual military and civilian use. We look forward to further elucidation of the role that AGP(s) might play in stimulating innate immunity.'... |
