GenVec Announces Grant For RSV Vaccine Program

Main Category: Respiratory / Asthma
Also Included In: Immune System / Vaccines;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 09 May 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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GenVec, Inc. (Nasdaq:GNVC) announced that it has received an Advanced Technology Phase I Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, of the National Institutes of Health, to support the Company's efforts to develop vaccines for the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The SBIR grant, valued at $600,000 over two years, will support work being conducted exclusively at GenVec.

"The overall goal of this program is to develop a safe vaccine that provides protection against RSV," said Dr. Rick King, GenVec's Senior Vice President of Research. "RSV has long been recognized as a priority target for vaccine development and our program has the potential to address this significant unmet medical need."

About Respiratory Syncytial Virus

RSV is the single most important viral cause of lower respiratory infections in infants and young children. According to the WHO, nearly all U.S. children have been infected with RSV by two years of age. There are up to 130,000 pediatric hospitalizations per year in the U.S. RSV also causes repeated infections throughout life, which usually produce moderate-to-severe cold-like symptoms. However, severe lower respiratory tract infection may occur at any age, especially among infants, the elderly, or among those with compromised cardiac, pulmonary, or immune systems. Among the institutionalized elderly, it is estimated there are about 15,000 excess deaths from RSV.

About GenVec

GenVec, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutic drugs and vaccines. GenVec's lead product candidate, TNFerade™, is currently in a pivotal clinical study (PACT) in locally advanced pancreatic cancer and is being evaluated in additional clinical trials in other tumor types. GenVec also uses its proprietary adenovector technology to develop vaccines for infectious diseases including HIV, malaria, foot-and-mouth disease, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and influenza. Additional information about GenVec is available at http://www.genvec.com and in the company's various filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Statements herein relating to future financial or business performance, conditions or strategies and other financial and business matters, including expectations regarding future revenues and operating expenses, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. GenVec cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements or historical experience include risks and uncertainties, including the failure by GenVec to secure and maintain relationships with collaborators; risks relating to the early stage of GenVec's product candidates under development; uncertainties relating to clinical trials; risks relating to the commercialization, if any, of GenVec's proposed product candidates; dependence on the efforts of third parties; dependence on intellectual property; and risks that we may lack the financial resources and access to capital to fund our operations. Further information on the factors and risks that could affect GenVec's business, financial conditions and results of operations, are contained in GenVec's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which are available at http://www.sec.gov. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and GenVec assumes no duty to update forward-looking statements.

http://www.genvec.com