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news.SRI International has been awarded a new $49 million, seven-year contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, to conduct preclinical development of potential therapies for HIV infection and AIDS.
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The contract supports the development of drugs to treat HIV and AIDS and the complications and opportunistic infections associated with the disease, as well as microbicides for preventing sexual transmission of HIV.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 35 million people are infected with HIV worldwide. Despite major advances in therapeutics to treat HIV and AIDS, more effective and less toxic drugs and preventive interventions, such as microbicides, to prevent the sexual and perinatal transmission of HIV are still needed.
Through the new contract, SRI Biosciences scientists will provide integrated preclinical services to assess the pharmacology and toxicology of potential therapeutic agents and microbicides, and to develop, manufacture and analyze preclinical and clinical dosage formulations.
These services will help investigators, small companies and NIH staff obtain the data and products needed to acquire additional funding, gain prospective partnerships, and fulfill all regulatory requirements for Investigational New Drug (IND) applications.
The contract renews three existing contracts held by SRI, now rolled into a single contract. One of the contracts, initiated 23 years ago, has supported safety testing of more than 200 drugs and therapeutic vaccines at various stages of development.
An additional contract first won by SRI in 2000 supports formulation development and clinical manufacturing of drugs for treatment of HIV. A third pharmaceutical resource contract to conduct analytical chemistry evaluation studies was awarded to SRI in 2007.
"SRI Biosciences has been supporting NIAID since 1991 in the development of new therapeutics for HIV/AIDS," said Jon Mirsalis, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., managing director of SRI Biosciences and co-Principal Investigator for the program. "We are honored to receive this award to continue this vitally important work."
"We look forward to making additional contributions to translating drug discoveries to the clinic," said Helen Parish, executive director of the Pharmaceutical Development Section in SRI Biosciences, who is also co-Principal Investigator.