Malaria Vaccine Developer Sanaria Inc. and the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research of the University of Maryland College Park Awarded Collaborative, US $3M NIH Phase II Small Business Innovation Research Grant

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• Publié par: sanaria-inc
• Nombre de lectures: 14
• Langue: English

Extrait

Malaria Vaccine Developer Sanaria Inc. and the

Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology

Research of the University of Maryland College

Park Awarded Collaborative, US $3M NIH

Phase II Small Business Innovation Research

Grant

PR Newswire

ROCKVILLE, Maryland, June 13, 2012

ROCKVILLE, Maryland

,

June 13, 2012

/PRNewswire/ -- Sanaria Inc., a privately

held company in

Rockville, Maryland

, and the Institute for Bioscience and

Biotechnology Research (IBBR) of the University of Maryland College Park

announce the receipt of a multi-year Phase II Small Business Innovation

Research (SBIR) Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious

Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant, worth

nearly

$3 million

over a 3 year period, will fund research and development to

genetically engineer mosquitoes that produce large numbers of parasites for

Sanaria's malaria vaccine manufacturing process. This Phase II SBIR award

allows the continuation and expansion of a successful partnership supported by

a Phase I SBIR. Malaria vaccine development is a major humanitarian objective.

Malaria causes more than 200 million clinical cases and between 650,000 and

1.2 million deaths each year.

Dr. Peter F. Billingsley, Sanaria Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator on the

grant states, "Sanaria and IBBR have established a powerful system with which

to exploit new techniques in mosquito genetics and efficiently test the ability of

modified mosquito strains to sustain high level

P. falciparum

infections."

According to Dr. David O'Brochta, a Principal Investigator on the grant and

Director of the Insect Transformation Facility at IBBR, "The partnership

between Sanaria and IBBR supported by this grant is an extraordinary

opportunity to continue to exploit the unique capabilities of our Insect

Transformation Facility in pursuit of a goal of tremendous importance."

Stephen L. Hoffman, M.D., CEO of Sanaria Inc., notes, "The SBIR grants are

critical to the success of our malaria vaccine development efforts, which are

aimed at producing a vaccine that can be used to eliminate malaria from

defined geographic areas. This ongoing collaboration with IBBR provides an

excellent opportunity to exploit state-of-the-art mosquito transformation

methodologies to further our goal of generating extraordinarily high numbers

of malaria parasites in mosquitoes to facilitate lower cost vaccine production."

About Sanaria Inc.

Sanaria's mission is to develop and commercialize live, whole sporozoite

vaccines against malaria. Sanaria's sporozoite based products are being tested

in clinical trials in

the United States

,

Africa

and

Europe

. Sanaria also makes

available to the research community a range of parasitological and

entomological reagents and assay services. For more information, see

http://www.sanaria.com. Except for historical information, this news release

contains certain forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown

risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from

any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the

statements made. These forward-looking statements relate to the use of funds

to date to complete manufacturing the vaccine, and ability to raise sufficient

funding for clinical studies. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not

limited to, the Company's ability to raise funds on reasonable terms, the

regulatory approval process, competitive products, and maintenance of its

patent portfolio, among others.

Sanaria Media contact:

Adam Richman

Sanaria Inc.

9800 Medical Center Dr, Ste A209

Rockville, MD

20850

Ph: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

About IBBR and the Insect Transformation Facility

The Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) is a University

System of

Maryland

joint research enterprise created to enhance collaboration

among the University of Maryland College Park, The University of Maryland

Baltimore and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The mission

of IBBR is to leverage collective research strengths of the partnering institutions

in medicine, biosciences, technology, quantitative sciences and engineering, to

foster integrated, cross-disciplinary team approaches to scientific discovery and

education, and to serve the expanding economic base of biosciences and

technology in the state of Maryland and the Nation.

Transgenic technologies complement the growth of genomics and provide

opportunities to explore and exploit functional genomics. IBBR's Insect

Transformation Facility (ITF) promotes the advancement of insect molecular

science and its application to human health and welfare. ITF serves as an

international resource for the creation of genetically modified insects for

academic and industrial clients, development of new transgenic insect

technologies, and provides training in the implementation and use of transgenic

insect technologies.

IBBR Media contact:

Debra L. Weinstein, Ph.D.

Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research

University of Maryland College Park

9600 Gudelsky Drive

Rockville, MD

20850

Ph: +1- 240-314-6227

Email: [e-mail]