WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A California company that aims to
develop vaccines by shuffling genes said Tuesday it was working to create an
AIDS vaccine.
Maxygen Inc., based in Redwood City, California, said it
was being helped in the effort by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
(IAVI), a nonprofit group pressing for development of a vaccine to work against
the deadly AIDS virus.
IAVI will fund the development while the company keeps all
rights to commercialize any vaccine it comes up with, Maxygen said in a
statement.
“In recognition of the great need for a vaccine against
AIDS in the poorest countries of the world where infection rates are soaring,
Maxygen has granted IAVI a royalty free license to develop and distribute HIV
vaccines to those who cannot afford them in developing countries,” the company
said.
“A vaccine is the best hope for ending the AIDS epidemic,”
IAVI President Dr.
Seth Berkley said in a statement.
“Collaborations with private industry working on the
cutting edge of biotechnology will be a critical factor in achieving our goal
of developing and distributing AIDS vaccines,” Berkley added.
Maxygen said it would use its trademark “MolecularBreeding”
gene-shuffling technology to try to make a vaccine that will prompt an
effective immune response to the virus.
Vaccines work by helping the body recognize and act
against invaders, by using antigens, which are the recognition part of the
equation, and adjuvants that help boost immune system cells.
The trouble with HIV is it attacks immune system cells.
Efforts to create an effective vaccine so far have failed and now researchers
say they would be happy with one that blunts the effects of the virus instead
of stopping it.
The World Health Organization estimates that more than 36
million people worldwide have HIV infection or AIDS. The disease killed 3
million people last year, including 500,000 children.
“We have already shown in several examples that our
proprietary MolecularBreeding directed molecular evolution technologies can be
used to generate infectious disease antigens that elicit broader, stronger
immune responses than wild type antigens,” Russell Howard, chief executive
officer of Maxygen, said in a statement.
“We believe that application of these technologies to HIV
vaccine development may overcome key limitations that have so far hindered the
successful development of a safe, effective HIV vaccine.”
20:11 02-20-01
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