Profectus BioSciences Enters into Research Collaboration Agreement with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI)
BALTIMORE-(Business Wire)-August 25, 2009 - Profectus BioSciences, Inc. (Profectus), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel vaccine candidates for serious chronic infections, announced today it has entered into a research collaboration agreement with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) to conduct proof-of-concept studies with its proprietary, recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) vector technology as a preventative malaria vaccine.
Shawn Patrick O’Brien, President and Chief Executive Officer of Profectus BioSciences, commented, “We consider this collaboration with MVI a strong endorsement of our first-in-class rVSV vector platform and Profectus’ prime-boost approach towards vaccine development. We believe our vaccine technology can be successfully applied to a wide range of pathogens, including malaria, which has proven to be an extraordinarily difficult target for vaccine development.”
O’Brien continued, ”Malaria is a global problem that causes great human suffering. MVI’s mission to accelerate the development of malaria vaccines and to ensure their availability and accessibility in the developing world is an important cause. We look forward to applying MVI’s award to malaria vaccine research, and proceeding with what we hope will be a highly effective malaria vaccine candidate.”
About Profectus BioSciences Vaccine Platforms
Profectus has two key vaccine vector platforms, plasmid (p) DNA and rVSV that can be sequentially administered in a prime-boost regimen to elicit a potent and durable immune response to target pathogens. Each of these vectors alone is capable of inducing a strong immune response. Furthermore, when these vectors are sequentially employed in a prime-boost regimen, immune responses of significantly greater magnitude and quality are generated.
This approach represents a significant advancement in vaccine development as compared to historical DNA vaccines and adeno-virus based vectors and is a result of proprietary Profectus innovations. Profectus has a broad intellectual property estate of over 350 patents governing these vaccine platforms and other innovations.
About Profectus BioSciences, Inc.
Profectus BioSciences is an innovative research and development vaccine company devoted to advancing the treatment and prevention of chronic infectious diseases. The Profectus proprietary vaccine design approach combines its pDNA and rVSV platforms via a unique prime-boost strategy to advance vaccine research. Profectus’ broad development pipeline will address human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human papilloma virus (HPV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), and malaria. In addition to the malaria vaccine research, the Company’s first clinical vaccine candidate for HIV is planned for clinical trials in Q4’09/Q1’10 followed by a therapeutic HCV vaccine.
The Profectus portfolio has received over $100 million in funding from multiple sources, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Cross Atlantic Capital Partners and through private investment. Profectus deploys these resources in support of its proprietary prime-boost vaccines and its anti-inflammatory small molecules for cancer and chronic viral diseases. For more information, please visit: http://www.profectusbiosciences.com.
On the Internet:
PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, www.malariavaccine.org
PATH, www.path.org
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