Aggregate Total Award of $20.4 Million for Clinical Development of HIV/AIDS Vaccine
ATLANTA, Sept. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- GeoVax Labs, Inc. (otcqb/otcbb:GOVX), an Atlanta-based biopharmaceutical firm developing vaccines to prevent and fight Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections, today announced the increase of an existing $3.6 million annual award to $4.4 million for its Integrated Preclinical/Clinical AIDS Vaccine Development (IPCAVD) Grant supporting GeoVax's HIV/AIDS vaccine program.
This five-year grant was originally awarded in 2007 to GeoVax by the National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Disease (NIH-NIAID), an agency of the U.S. government. The increase reflects an administrative supplement to support vaccine response characterization. Only highly successful IPCAVD grants receive supplements, which allow these successful programs to move more rapidly. This most recent supplement for the 2011-12 grant year is the third for the GeoVax program, bringing the initial award of $15.4 million now to an aggregate award of $20.4 million.
Harriet Robinson, Ph.D., GeoVax's Chief Scientific Officer, stated, "This award is important for the advancement of our GM-CSF adjuvanted vaccine that is achieving unprecedented levels of prevention of infection. When we started this project, I thought we could only control, not prevent, infections. It is truly wonderful to be achieving high levels of prevention of infection, and we are working very hard to move the vaccine through the needed efficacy trials for human use."
About GeoVax
GeoVax is a biotechnology company developing human vaccines for diseases caused by HIV. Our goals include developing HIV/AIDS vaccines for global markets, overseeing the manufacture and testing of these vaccines under GMP/GLP conditions (FDA guidelines), conducting clinical trials for vaccine safety and effectiveness, and obtaining regulatory approvals to move the product forward. GeoVax's vaccines are unique in expressing virus like particles that display the trimeric membrane bound form of the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein. All preventative Phase 1 human clinical trials conducted to date tested various combinations and doses of our DNA and MVA vaccines, their ability to raise anti-HIV humoral (antibody) and cellular (cytotoxic T cell) immune responses, as well as, the vaccines' safety. Successful results from Phase 1 testing supported the initiation of the first Phase 2 testing. GeoVax's Phase 2 human trial began in January 2009 and involves 300 participants at sites in the United States and South America. Recently GeoVax began enrolling patients in a Phase 1 therapeutic trial for individuals already infected with HIV. For more information, please visit www.geovax.com .