BioVeris entered into a license agreement with the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMA) for rights to commercialize products for possible use in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of all chlamydial infections. Bioveris will pay UMA an upfront fee of $75,000 followed by milestones fees, including for initiating and completing human clinical trials and securing regulatory approvals.
Earlier this year BioVeris agreed to sponsor up to $600,000 of research at UMA through 2006 aimed at developing a vaccine. The vaccine under investigation utilizes a pan-genus antigen that may be effective in preventing infections caused by most or all species of Chlamydia.
Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted disease caused by chlamydia trachomatis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chlamydia is the most frequently reported infectious disease in the US with estimates of nearly three million cases annually. The Institute of Medicine estimates that the resulting total annual healthcare cost exceeds $2 billion.
Although antibiotic therapy is available, chlamydia is a “silent” disease, showing no symptoms in three quarters of infected women and half of infected men. There is no vaccine currently available to protect against the disease.