Seattle BioMed wins US$9.8m grant to develop HIV/AIDS vaccine
Multi-centre collaboration aims to progress neutralising antibody research from preclinical to clinical trials
Seattle BioMed has received a seven-year Integrated Preclinical/Clinical AIDS Vaccine Development (IPCAVD) grant from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to develop an HIV-1 vaccine.
The non-profit organisation will lead a consortium comprising the Rockefeller University, the University of Washington, Seattle Children's Hospital and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. They will receive $9.8m over seven years to fund the initial phase of the project, which will include the optimisation and preclinical evaluation of two vaccine candidates.
In the second phase, these vaccines will be produced according to current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) and their safety and immunogenicity evaluated in a Phase I clinical trial.
'This grant brings together experts in vaccine-design, immunology and clinical evaluation of HIV/AIDS vaccines,' said Alan Aderem, President, Seattle BioMed. 'This multi-disciplinary collaboration will accelerate the delivery of a novel and effective vaccine to patients.'
Leonidas Stamatatos, Professor and Scientific Director at Seattle BioMed, will lead the initial phase of the project as the IPCAVD programme principal investigator.
'The HIV-1 epidemic remains a significant threat to global health, with over three million AIDS-related deaths each year,' he said.
'While access to anti-retroviral therapies has increased, the best route of defeating the epidemic remains a universally effective HIV-1 vaccine. We look forward to continuing our collaborative research on broadly neutralising antibodies against HIV-1.'
