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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Therion Awarded AIDS Vaccine
Manufacturing Contracts from NIH
Three agreements provide over $1.5 million
in funding
for development of novel vaccines and research
products
Cambridge, MA, November 29, 1999 - Therion
Biologics Corporation has been awarded three
contracts totaling $1.5 million from the NIH's
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Disease (NIAID) for the development and manufacture
of novel AIDS vaccines and related research
reagents, the company announced today. The two
principal agreements cover generation of AIDS
vaccines based on MVA, a non-replicating pox virus
vector that may offer an improved safety profile
for use in healthy individuals. The third contract
relates to the production of research reagents for
evaluation of specific cell-mediated immune
responses in individuals infected with HIV (human
immunodeficiency virus) or immunized with candidate
HIV vaccines.
"These new NIH contracts reinforce the value of
Therion's innovative technology and capitalize on
our significant expertise in generating vaccines
based on pox virus vectors," said Dennis L.
Panicali, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive
Officer of Therion. "The agreements also build on
the strength of our long-standing relationship with
the NIAID. Over the past decade, Therion and our
academic collaborators have benefited from strong
NIH support for our ongoing AIDS vaccine programs.
This latest collaboration demonstrates our
continued commitment to advancing the field of AIDS
research."
Separate from these agreements, but supported by
significant NIAID research funding, Therion is
advancing an AIDS vaccine development program that
includes TBC-3B, its first multi-antigen vaccine to
complete Phase I clinical studies. TBC-3B is a live
recombinant vaccinia virus expressing the major
structural and non-structural proteins of HIV.
Therion is also advancing three additional AIDS
vaccine candidates.
Under terms of the NIAID contracts, Therion will
develop and manufacture novel, clinical-grade
recombinant AIDS vaccines based on the MVA pox
virus vector. The Company will generate recombinant
MVA-based vaccines that express multiple HIV
antigens, manufacture and test sufficient
quantities of the vaccines for human Phase I and II
clinical trials, and deliver these products to the
NIAID for clinical evaluation. In addition, Therion
will generate research reagents for use in the
evaluation of HIV-infected patients or
HIV-vaccinated individuals. These reagents, which
will contain recombinant vaccinia viruses
expressing individual or multiple proteins from
various HIV subtypes, will serve as tools to
measure specific immune responses to the expressed
HIV antigens.
MVA (Modified Vaccinia Ankara) is one of several
pox virus vectors used by Therion for the
development of its prophylactic and
immunotherapeutic vaccines. Like other pox virus
vectors, MVA can simultaneously express multiple
foreign antigens and elicit broad immune responses
to those antigens, thereby helping the native
immune system to fight or prevent disease. MVA is a
potent but non-replicating virus that may offer
improved safety over replicating viruses currently
used in prophylactic vaccine products. The parent
MVA vector has already demonstrated a strong safety
profile in European studies involving over 120,000
individuals.
Therion Biologics Corporation is engaged in the
development of therapeutic vaccines for cancer and
preventive vaccines for AIDS. Currently, Therion,
in collaboration with the National Cancer
Institute, has seven products in Phase I and Phase
II clinical development for the treatment of major
cancers, including prostate, colorectal and breast
cancer and melanoma. The Company also has a major
corporate alliance with Pasteur Mérieux
Connaught for the development of therapeutic
colorectal cancer and melanoma vaccines. Therion is
headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Contacts:
Dennis L. Panicali, Ph.D.
President and CEO
Therion Biologics Corporation
(617) 876-7779
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Sharon Karlsberg or
Wendy Soutsos
Feinstein Kean Healthcare Inc
(617) 577-8110
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