ALPHAVAX PUBLISHES DATA ON CMV VACCINE

AlphaVax's novel alphavaccine technology has been shown to be effective in generating protection against congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease in a preclinical study published in the March 15 issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

In the study, guinea pigs immunized with the CMV alphavaccine before becoming pregnant and infected with CMV had greatly reduced amounts of virus in their blood and gave birth to significantly more live pups compared with guinea pigs not receiving the vaccine. The guinea pig model is used for preclinical testing of novel vaccines because the guinea pig placenta is similar to that of humans.

AlphaVax recently announced the FDA's acceptance of an investigational new drug application to begin clinical trials evaluating a vaccine for CMV developed with the company's alphavaccine technology.

"These data give us additional confidence as we prepare to enter clinical trials with an alphavaccine for human CMV," Jeff Chulay, AlphaVax's chief medical officer, said.