Alphavaccine Applications

AlphaVax's first vaccine program focuses on an HIV vaccine and has acted as a springboard for the alphavaccine technology, advancing it into clinical development as quickly as possible. Today, knowledge gained from the HIV program is being leveraged to deploy the alphavaccine technology across a broad range of vaccine applications.

Prophylactic Vaccines
The most important and immediate application of alphavaccine technology is the development of preventative vaccines. We are vigorously pursuing development of vaccines for important human diseases in collaboration with academic institutions, philanthropic organizations, government agencies, and corporate partners. In addition to HIV, we are targeting cytomegalovirus, herpes virus, human papilloma virus, influenza, and additional respiratory viruses.

Therapeutic Vaccines
Therapeutic vaccines, used to treat chronic diseases, offer an additional attractive opportunity for the application of alphavaccine technology. Vaccines that treat existing diseases by enabling the immune system to control or clear the responsible pathogen are an emerging and competitive alternative to drug therapy.

Tumor Immunotherapy
There is mounting evidence to suggest that if the body's natural immune response is boosted sufficiently, it can recognize and kill cancer cells. We are using alphavaccines to deliver tumor-specific antigens to maximize such anti-tumor immune responses. This technology has shown exciting promise in animal models of breast, melanoma, cervical, and prostate cancer. We will soon be evaluating this technology in human clinical trials.

Biodefense
The alphavaccine technology was originally designed and developed for biodefense applications at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). Because of its high immunogenicty, applicability to a wide variety of pathogens, and potential for rapid deployment, USAMRIID selected the alphavaccine system as ideally suited to its multiple vaccine needs.

In the past few years, we have been awarded four multi-million dollar biodefense grants, further validating the utility of the alphavaccine technology in this arena. This biodefense support offers several important indirect benefits and opportunities:

• Peer-reviewed scientific validation of our technology
• Financial funding and leverage
• Development support (e.g., primate studies, access to government-controlled bioenvironment laboratories)
• Emergency stockpile procurement in advance of product approval
• Product approval based on human safety and immunogenicity animal rule