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news.US-based biotechnology firm TechnoVax has received a one-year $509,623 SBIR grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to support the development of a vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a major respiratory infectious disease in infants, children and adults.
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The company is carrying out the development of the RSV vaccine, as part of the TechnoVax program, using its proprietary VLP technology, which is a new way to produce vaccines against dangerous viruses as VLPs contain no infectious material and are highly immunogenic.
According to the company, people with high-risk conditions including the elderly and adults with underlying chronic cardiac or pulmonary disease can experience extremely severe re-infections.
In the US only, RSV is responsible for about 100,000 infant and 175,000 elderly hospitalizations due to RSV related secondary infections leading to the death of 14,000 elderly patients.
Currently, there is no approved vaccine to protect against RSV on the market.
TechnoVax CEO Jose Galarza said the NIAID grant will accelerate the development of this much needed vaccine.
"This award recognizes not only the innovative research carried out at TechnoVax but also emphasizes the importance of developing such RSV vaccine," Galarza said.
The company’s VLP vaccine technology utilizes a rapid, safer and more effective cell-based system for development and production, reducing the time and costs of more traditional vaccine production systems.
Currently, the company is evaluating in preclinical phase vaccines to protect against influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and dengue.