Maxygen Receives $3.4 Million Government Grant to Develop Vaccine Discovery Technology
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Aug 27, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Maxygen a biotechnology company focused on the development of improved protein drugs, today announced that it has been awarded a 2-year, $3.4 million grant from the United States Department of Defense1 to develop technology to advance vaccine research and development. Under the grant, Maxygen will continue development of ParallelaVax(TM) technology for rapid generation of vaccine candidates and high-throughput testing in animal models. The work will be done in collaboration with Aldevron LLC.
Maxygen has vaccine programs in the areas of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), influenza, and encephalitic alphaviruses, which are funded through various external agencies. Maxygen researchers have generated thousands of lead candidates for these vaccine programs using Maxygen's MolecularBreeding(TM) platform. The ParallelaVax(TM) technology is being developed in collaboration with Aldevron to enable high-throughput testing of these vaccine candidates in animal models. By creating multiple vaccine leads in parallel, the companies hope to increase the odds of successfully advancing promising vaccines into late stage clinical trials.
"Combining our MolecularBreeding(TM) platform and the ParallelaVax(TM) technology may solve some of the fundamental problems with vaccine development," said Russell Howard, chief executive officer of Maxygen. "We are pleased that the government will continue to fund this important work while Maxygen maintains its focus on the business of developing novel protein therapeutics."
The companies are also working on a separate project to develop an analogous platform for human clinical trials, called Paraclin(TM), which will enable rapid screening of vaccine candidates in humans. The goal of this work is to lower the time, cost, and risk of vaccine clinical trials.
The grant announced today allows Maxygen to continue work done under a previous contract with the Department of Defense and partner with the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense (JPEO-CBD), Chemical Biological Medical Systems Joint Project Management Office in developing vaccine systems used to protect military personnel from biological agents. Maxygen has been using its HIV vaccine program as the model for development of the technology. To date, the program has achieved a number of successes, including the creation of a shuffled gp120 HIV-1 envelope protein with broader activity against a number of HIV-1 virus strains compared to wild-type gp120 protein. The company has also identified multiple variants with increased activity relative to specific HIV strains.
Maxygen's HIV program is also being funded by the U.S. government's National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) HIV Research and Development (HIVRAD) program and the NIH Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The company has also received SBIR funding for the development of vaccines against influenza and encephalitic alphaviruses.
About MolecularBreeding(TM) Directed Evolution Platform
Our MolecularBreeding(TM) directed evolution platform uses a process of shuffling gene fragments in a test tube and allowing the fragments to recombine randomly to form new genes. The products of these recombined genes (proteins) are then screened for the targeted drug properties. Genes for the selected proteins can then be reshuffled and screened in an iterative process that ultimately results in a final protein with the desired product profile. This novel platform allows scientists to exploit gene variation, which can result in unique drug targets or novel therapeutic protein candidates.
About ParallelaVax(TM) Rapid Vaccine Testing Technology
ParallelaVax(TM) Rapid Vaccine Testing Technology is a system for the rapid and cost-effective high-throughput testing of vaccine candidates in animals. ParallelaVax(TM) Technology helps researchers identify multiple lead candidates for further development. As candidates progress through further testing in non-human primates and "first-in-human" studies, those vaccines that are ineffective will drop out. The existence of multiple candidates makes it unnecessary to return to the initial step of vaccine candidate discovery, thus saving time and money.
About Maxygen
Maxygen is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing improved versions of protein drugs. The company's lead program, MAXY-G34, is designed to be an improved long-acting G-CSF for the treatment of neutropenia. MAXY-G34 is currently in Phase II clinical trials. Maxygen also has a MAXY-4 program, under which it is exploring new CTLA4-Ig product candidates for the treatment of a broad array of autoimmune disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis. Maxygen uses its proprietary DNA shuffling technology and extensive protein modification expertise to pursue the creation of biosuperior proteins. www.maxygen.com
Forward Looking Statements Disclaimer
This news release contains forward-looking statements about the research and business prospects of Maxygen, including whether the Department of Defense will maintain its recent grant to us for the development of vaccine discovery technology and whether any other government agency that provides us with funding will maintain, renew or replace existing grants for any of our vaccine programs; our ability to continue the development of our MolecularBreeding(TM) directed evolution platform and other technologies and processes; and the effectiveness of such technologies in the development of any vaccines. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. Among other things these risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the properties of novel vaccine development including the ability to provide immune protection against various pathogens; the inherent uncertainties of vaccine development and commercialization; the development and commercialization of competitive vaccine products; and changing research and business priorities of Maxygen and/or the various government agencies that provide us with funding. These and other risk factors are more fully discussed in Maxygen's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, including under the caption "Risk Factors," and in Maxygen's other periodic reports filed with the SEC, all of which are available from Maxygen or from the SEC's website ( www.sec.gov). Maxygen disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in Maxygen's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.
The information contained in this press release does not necessarily reflect the position of the policy of the Government, and no official endorsement should be inferred.
MolecularBreeding(TM) and Maxygen are U.S. trademarks used by Maxygen, Inc. ParallelaVax(TM) is a trademark of Aldevron LLC.
1 Award Number W9113M-08-1-0008. The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, 64 Thomas Johnson Drive, Frederick, MD 21702 is the awarding and administering acquisition office of this research project for the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense, Chemical Biological Medical Systems (CBMS) Joint Project Management Office.