vicl has long successful relationship with NIH who is leading the avian flu effort for u.s. gov... following from this week's earnings:
"...* The company announced plans to develop and evaluate electroporation-
enhanced delivery of therapeutic and preventive DNA vaccines against
HIV in collaboration with the NIH.
* The company received a two-year grant from the National Institutes of
Health (NIH) to support the development of a DNA vaccine to protect
humans against pandemic avian influenza.
* The company was awarded funding from the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency for feasibility studies of a new approach for rapidly
manufacturing large quantities of DNA vaccines...."
and the followin is from Bush plan announced this week:
"....
Further research and development. HHS plans to accelerate basic
discovery in priority areas such as naturalhistory of influenza
progression, animal-to-human transmission of disease, and virus/host
interaction. It plansto do this by supporting academic and private-
sector research grants in priority areas that could contribute to
the generation of new vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics and expanding
support for multidisciplinary focus inpriority areas.
HHS also plans to accelerate development of vaccines, drugs, and
diagnostics by 1) supporting and accelerating
the clinical testing of candidate products that are in advanced
states of development (e.g. recombinant
influenza vaccine and new and/or long-acting neuraminidase inhibitor
antiviral drugs); 2) supporting
evaluation and licensure efforts for injectable and pediatric
formulations of currently licensed drugs, of new
antiviral drugs, 3) supporting accelerated preclinical development
including in vitro and animal model studies
of promising countermeasures (e.g. siRNA and common-epitope
vaccines, new immune-stimulating adjuvants,
novel antiviral drugs, and genomic/proteomic microchip approaches to
rapid diagnostics using surrogate
markers of early infection). These will be accomplished using
milestone-driven grants with private-sector
partners and public/private sector collaborations; 4) supporting
revised protocols and increased resources to
reduce the time to prepare and qualify influenza virus reference
strains used in vaccine manufacturing and to
calibrate HA content in influenza vaccines for potency assays; and
5) developing accurate, rapid point-of-care
diagnostic tests for clinical use during a pandemic, which will
require additional investment in new technology
leading both to better diagnosis of influenza and differentiation
among the various respiratory infections.
F-39 HHS Pandemic Influenza Plan" |
