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news.Vical Incorporated has signed a research and development agreement with the US Navy, to explore the use of its Vaxfectin adjuvant with experimental DNA vaccines against malaria.
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Vical has provided Vaxfectin to researchers for several years, and data have been published showing evidence of increased immunogenicity and protective efficacy of DNA vaccines against diseases including anthrax, tuberculosis, HIV, Japanese encephalitis virus, influenza, and malaria in animal models.
“We expect initial human testing of a Vaxfectin-formulated DNA vaccine to begin in the second half of 2007 in our pandemic influenza program,” said Vijay Samant, Vical’s president and CEO, “potentially paving the way for other applications to advance into clinical-stage development.
“We believe the potential of this new class of adjuvants is quite broad, including DNA vaccines and conventional vaccines against infectious diseases or cancer.”
Vaxfectin was developed to boost the immune response to DNA vaccines, but also has been shown to boost the immune response to a conventional seasonal influenza vaccine.
The Naval Medical Research Center plans to conduct a series of antigen screening tests and further development in several animal models of malaria to optimize the design of a vaccine, potentially leading to initial testing in humans.