The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on Thursday announced three new contracts to fund research on vaccines to protect against emerging infectious diseases and biological threats that could be used in a terror attack.
Each project focuses on simple and efficient vaccine delivery approaches that could be deployed quickly. The total funding for the three contracts could reach 68 million dollars, depending on the successful completion of defined project milestones.
"These new contracts build on NIAID's commitment to support the advanced development of products that are important to the public health but often unattractive to investors in private industry, by bridging the funding gap with contracts intended to address specific health needs," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci.
The three studies will focus on a dengue vaccine delivered by a needle-free device, an anthrax vaccine delivered orally and an anthrax vaccine delivered in conjunction with an adjuvant -- a compound that stimulates the immune system.
"Our goal is to improve vaccine delivery and the resulting immune response in a way that could be used to protect large numbers of patients," says Michael G. Kurilla, director of the Office of Bio-defense Research Affairs in NIAID's Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
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