Alphavaccine Applications

Prophylactic Vaccines
The most straightforward application of our alphavaccine technology is the development of preventative vaccines, i.e. vaccines given to healthy people before they are exposed to the organism or virus that causes disease. We are vigorously pursuing development of such prophylactic vaccines for important human diseases at AlphaVax, and also in collaboration with corporate partners, academic institutions, and government agencies. In addition to our licensed CMV vaccine, we are targeting herpes virus, RSV, and influenza as well as a number of additional undisclosed pre-clinical-stage product programs.

Therapeutic Vaccines
Therapeutic vaccines, used to treat chronic or recurrent 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. Examples of such diseases would include HSV, HPV, and HCV.

Tumor Immunotherapy
There is mounting evidence to suggest that if the body's natural immune response can be sufficiently stimulated, 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. Our technology is currently being evaluated in phase I/II trials for colon cancer and prostate cancer. We anticipate that a Phase I/II trial of a breast cancer vaccine candidate will be initiated in 2009.

Biodefense
Because of its potent immunogenicity, applicability to a wide variety of pathogens, and potential for rapid deployment, the alphavaccine system is ideally suited to address threats from bioterror agents.

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. We have worked in collaboration with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) to assess the performance of these vaccine candidates in animal studies in the government-controlled high-containment bioenvironment laboratories. In the face of a credible threat, emergency stockpiles of such vaccines could be manufactured for government-directed use. Products based on these candidates can be approved for widespread use based on human safety and the animal immunogenicity rule.