Dynavax Awarded $8.4 Million in NIH Biodefense Grants to Develop Novel ISS-Based Vaccines
BERKELEY, Calif., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Dynavax Technologies announced today that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded the company three Biodefense Grants totaling $8.4 million to support the development of novel products for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases that could result from an act of terrorism or war. The three grants will be applied to the development of infectious disease products based on Dynavax's second-generation ISS (ImmunoStimulatory DNA Sequences) technology, including an improved anthrax vaccine for providing rapid protective immunity, a novel influenza vaccine for controlling a pandemic flu outbreak, and an aerosolized ISS product for enhancing the lung's ability to respond to infections by airborne pathogens.
The grants were made under the NIAID's cooperative research program for the development of new vaccines, adjuvants, therapeutics, immunotherapeutics, or diagnostics focused on NIAID category A-C biodefense pathogens. This is part of the current program of the National Institutes of Health and other agencies in the Department of Health and Human Services to help support the development of new products to protect the public from health consequences resulting from the use of biological agents in acts of terrorism or war.
"Dynavax was selected to receive these grants based on a large body of preclinical and clinical data demonstrating that our various ISS formulations are safe and capable of generating robust and specific immune responses," said Dino Dina, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Dynavax. "These awards will enable Dynavax to develop important applications for our second-generation technology on an accelerated basis while we continue to advance our existing clinical programs."
ISS are short synthetic DNA sequences containing CpG motifs that act as signaling molecules to enhance immune responses against foreign pathogens and cancer, and to suppress inflammatory responses caused by allergens. Dynavax's second-generation ISS compounds, known as chimeric immunoregulatory compounds (CICs), are designed to regulate the immune response with increased potency and specificity, and may be tailored to specific clinical applications.
The first of Dynavax's three NIAID Biodefense Grants is focused on the development of an advanced anthrax vaccine consisting of highly purified, recombinant anthrax antigens co-administered with Dynavax's second-generation ISS formulations to provide rapid and effective protection against anthrax infection. The second grant is directed toward the development of a conjugate vaccine for influenza that incorporates an advanced ISS compound to protect large military and civilian populations against widely divergent influenza A strains. Finally, the third grant will enable Dynavax to evaluate the ability of aerosolized ISS to prime the innate immune system and provide the lung with protection against bacterial and viral pathogens.
About Dynavax
Dynavax Technologies is a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing innovative products to treat allergy, inflammation-mediated diseases, infectious diseases, and cancer. The company's lead products are based on ImmunoStimulatory DNA Sequences (ISS), short DNA sequences that enhance the ability of the immune system to fight disease and prevent inflammation. The company's two most advanced products are AIC, which is expected to enter Phase III clinical testing for the treatment of ragweed allergy by the end of 2003, and a next-generation hepatitis B vaccine, currently in late Phase II trials, that may offer single-dose protection. Dynavax is also conducting clinical trials for ISS-based treatments for cancer and asthma, and has an oral TNF-alpha synthesis inhibitor in preclinical development for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. A company profile is available at the Dynavax website, www.dynavax.com. |
