GenVec, Inc., U.S. NIAID Partner To Develop AIDS Prevention Vaccines.(Brief Article)

2002 JAN 30 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- GenVec, Inc., announced January 10, 2002, that it has signed a letter contract authorizing it to commence work for the Vaccine Research Center at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health using GenVec's proprietary adenovector technology for the development and manufacture of clinical grade preventative AIDS vaccine candidates.

In addition, GenVec announced that in October 2001 it entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Vaccine Research Center.

The CRADA with NIAID governs a preclinical collaboration to evaluate and develop adenoviral vectors expressing modified HIV-1 genes. Each newly created adenovector will then be evaluated for potential application as an HIV preventative or therapeutic vaccine.

This preclinical research project may lead to future opportunities for GenVec in the areas of technology transfer from the vaccine manufacturing and precommercialization manufacturing fields. While the CRADA itself does not generate revenue for GenVec, it does include built-in options to license new technology developed under the preclinical research project.

The letter contract, issued and managed on behalf of NIAID's Vaccine Research Center by SAIC Frederick, Inc., under the umbrella of a federally funded prime contract with NIH, authorizes GenVec to begin work now on a second adenovector project while the parties finalize a more complete contract that would have a life of up to three years (upon exercise of options) and a potential value of up to $10 million. The parties hope to finalize this contract by the end of January 2002.

Under the preliminary contract and the proposed terms of the anticipated longer-term contract, GenVec is tasked with developing and manufacturing adenovector-based preventative AIDS vaccine candidates using its proprietary cell ...