Virax wins US bioterrorism job

Virax (ASX:VHL) has received approval from the US State Department to participate in a collaboration to develop a modified smallpox vaccine.

The collaboration, headed by Prof Bertram Jacobs at Arizona State University, and including researchers from New York's Beth Israel Hospital and New York University, and the New York Blood Centre, has received US$5.5 million from the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Biodefence Partnership program as part of the US counter-terrorism program.

Virax's role in the project will be to use its expertise in developing GMP manufacturing processes for poxviruses to produce the vaccine for clinical trials. Work will begin immediately, said Virax CEO David Beames, with manufacturing of material for clinical trials likely to begin late next year.

"It's a modest contract, but we're very excited about it," said Beames. "It's not as significant as the [HIV immunotherapy] trial results we got last week, but you never know quite where the opportunities will lead."

This particular opportunity, Beames said, came about through the company's connections with one of the other collaborators -- Dr Alfred Prince at the New York Blood Centre. He said the collaboration provided an opportunity to broaden the company's network of contacts in the field. It was also a great validation of Virax's GMP manufacturing capabilities.

"We are delighted to have our expertise in vaccine manufacturing recognized by such a prestigious group and readily accepted the invitation to participate on this important bioterrorism project," said Beames.