US Department Of Defense Awards Grant to Ichor Medical Systems, Inc. to Evaluate Skin Electroporation Device tor Delivery of Multi-Agent Dna Vaccines
April 18, 2011 -- San Diego, CA - Ichor Medical Systems (Ichor) of San Diego announced today that they have been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant from the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to evaluate Ichor's electroporation-based TriGridTM Intradermal Delivery System (TriGridTM-ID) for the delivery of multi-agent DNA vaccines in skin.
The studies will utilize well characterized antigens from the encephalitic alphaviruses, including Venezuelan, Western and Eastern equine encephalitis viruses. These pathogens are listed as Category B bioterrorism agents by the Centers for Disease Control and are considered an important biodefense risk in part due to their stability when aerosolized as well as their ability to rapidly incapacitate infected subjects. Moreover, a vaccine for these pathogens could have a utility for public health since equine encephalitis virus outbreaks have been reported in several countries, including the US.
Ichor's patented TriGridTM platform is designed so that the site of DNA administration, placement of electrodes, and timing of electroporation delivery are completed in an automated, simple, and user independent fashion to minimize potential sources of variability in the administration procedure. The platform also incorporates numerous device elements to facilitate subject acceptance and tolerability of the procedure. To date, the TriGridTM device for intramuscular delivery (TriGridTM-IM) has been/is being utilized to deliver DNA vaccines in five clinical trials, including testing in both therapeutic and prophylactic settings, and the TriGridTM- ID device is scheduled to enter clinical testing in the second half of 2011. Taken together, the features embodied in the TriGridTM platform support the development of novel vaccine candidates for commercial use and more specifically, in this case, would facilitate rapid, reproducible and cost effective deployment of a wide range of vaccines to protect U.S. forces.
"We are excited to continue this important work with our collaborators at the DoD," said Bob Bernard, Ichor President and CEO. "Over the longer term, successful results from these studies would provide the basis for the development of multi-agent vaccines using the TriGridTM platform for a broad spectrum of infectious disease and cancer targets relevant to public health."
About Ichor Medical Systems
Ichor Medical Systems' TriGridTM Delivery System is the first integrated and fully automated system for electroporation-mediated DNA administration in humans. Ichor, a privately-held biotech company based in San Diego, CA, is collaborating with partners on three continents in a wide range of studies to test the TriGridTM as an enabling platform for delivery of DNA drugs and vaccines to treat diseases such as pandemic flu, hepatitis B, HIV, melanoma, Alzheimer's disease, and others. For further information, visit www.ichorms.com.
For additional inquiries, please contact: May de las Alas, Ph.D. at [email protected]