The $3.1 million phase II small business innovation research (SBIR) grant supplements the $1 million awarded to Vical in 2004 for the cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine program under two additional grants.
A phase I SBIR grant of approximately $300,000 partially funded Vical’s preclinical safety and toxicity evaluation of the CMV vaccine and a research grant of approximately $700,000 is partially funding the development of novel assays for use in phase I trials.
“We are pleased to receive additional NIH funding to support continued development of our CMV vaccine as we advance from human safety testing to initial human efficacy testing,” said Vical’s president and CEO, Vijay Samant.
Safety and immunogenicity data from two phase I trials with bivalent and trivalent formulations of the vaccine will be presented in April 2005 and are expected to support the selection of a single vaccine formulation to advance into phase II testing.