GENVEC ANNOUNCES NEW AGREEMENT WITH GLOBAL PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY
GAITHERSBURG, MD - August 6, 2010 - GenVec, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNVC) today announced a new agreement for the supply of services relating to development materials with Novartis, related to the companies' collaboration in hearing loss and balance disorders. Under this new agreement, GenVec could receive approximately $13 million over four years to manufacture clinical trial material for up to two lead candidates.
"This contract supports our ongoing collaborative efforts with Novartis to uncover solutions to the unfortunate and widespread problems of hearing loss and balance disorders," said Dr. Paul Fischer, GenVec's President and Chief Executive Officer. "This new agreement with Novartis will enable the manufacture of a potential product candidate to address this important unmet medical need."
Preclinical results suggest that delivery of the atonal gene using GenVec's innovative adenovector technology may have the potential to restore hearing and balance function.
On January 13, 2010, GenVec entered into a worldwide licensing and collaboration agreement with Novartis, to discover and develop novel treatments for hearing loss and balance disorders. Under the companies' Research, Collaboration and License Agreement, Novartis is responsible for manufacturing. All research conducted under the collaboration will be funded by Novartis.
About GenVec
GenVec, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutic drugs and vaccines. GenVec uses proprietary drug discovery and development technologies to support a portfolio of product programs that address the prevention and treatment of a number of major diseases. In collaboration with Novartis, GenVec is developing novel treatments for hearing loss and balance disorders. GenVec also develops and is evaluating the potential of TNFerade for the treatment of certain cancers and is developing vaccines for infectious diseases including influenza, HIV, malaria, foot-and-mouth disease, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and HSV-2.
Additional information about GenVec is available at www.genvec.com and in the Company's various filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Statements herein relating to future financial or business performance, conditions or strategies and other financial and business matters, including expectations regarding funding, manufacturing the development of products and the success of the collaboration with Novartis, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. GenVec cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements or historical experience include risks and uncertainties, including the failure by GenVec to secure and maintain relationships with collaborators; risks relating to the early stage of GenVec's product candidates under development; uncertainties relating to clinical trials; risks relating to the commercialization, if any, of GenVec's proposed product candidates; uncertainties related to the outcome and process of GenVec's previously announced strategic review, dependence on the efforts of third parties; dependence on intellectual property; and risks that we may lack the financial resources and access to capital to fund our operations. Further information on the factors and risks that could affect GenVec's business, financial conditions and results of operations, are contained in GenVec's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which are available at www.sec.gov. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and GenVec assumes no duty to update forward-looking statements. ###