MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Aviron (Nasdaq: AVIR) today
announced the company has received a Phase II Small Business Innovation
Research (SBIR) grant to support development of its live attenuated vaccine
for the prevention of disease caused by human cytomegalovirus (CMV), from the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a unit of the
National Institutes of Health. The $750,000 grant is the second that Aviron
has received for research on CMV.
The award will be used to produce recombinant CMV vaccine candidates for
human testing and to determine their safety and immunogenicity in a Phase 1
clinical trial in collaboration with the NIAID Vaccine Treatment and
Evaluation Unit network. According to Dr. George Kemble, senior scientist at
Aviron, the main goal is to select a single vaccine strain based on the human
data for final commercial development.
CMV is the most common viral infection known to be transmitted to the
fetus during pregnancy. It is the leading infectious cause of birth defects
including deafness, death or major neurodevelopmental defects such as mental
retardation. CMV can be life threatening for persons who are
immunocompromised by drug therapy for transplantation, cancer treatment, or
AIDS.
"An effective CMV vaccine could reduce damage to babies caused by primary
infections of women during pregnancy. Congenital CMV disease results in an
estimated 8,000 infants annually with neurologic problems. The development of
a live attenuated CMV vaccine demonstrates the progress made in Aviron's
rational vaccine design programs based on the power of molecular virology,"
said Martin Bryant, M.D., Ph.D., vice president of research at Aviron.
Aviron is a biopharmaceutical company based in Mountain View, CA focused
on prevention of disease. The company's goal is developing vaccines which
offer cost-effective prevention of a wide range of infections that affect the
general population. The majority of the Aviron's products under development
are live vaccines against viral infections. FluMist(TM), an intranasal
influenza vaccine, is currently under review by the US Food and Drug
Administration. Products in clinical development include parainfluenza
(PIV-3) and in collaboration with SmithKline Beecham Biologicals, a subunit
vaccine against Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection, a major cause of
infectious mononucleosis. Products in pre-clinical development include
vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), cytomegalovirus (CMV) and
genital herpes (HSV-2).
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Actual results
may differ materially from those suggested here. Additional information
concerning factors that could cause such a difference is contained in Aviron's
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1997.
To receive an index and copies of recent press releases, call Aviron's
News On-Call toll-free fax service, 800/758-5804, extension 114000.
Additional information about the company can be located at
http://www.aviron.com.
SOURCE Aviron
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CONTACT:
media, Karen Gilbert, 650-919-6578, or
investors, Lyn Christenson, 650-919-3716, both of Aviron; or John
Bluth of Fleishman-Hillard, 212-453-2000, for Aviron
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