RxKinetix receives grant to develop thermostable vaccines with improved stability at non-refrigerated temperatures

RxKinetix Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company that uses its proprietary drug delivery technologies to develop new medicinal products, today announced it is one of the 43 recipients of a grant offer from the prestigious Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative, a major international effort to achieve scientific breakthroughs against diseases that kill millions of people each year in the world's poorest countries. The grant will be used to develop thermostable vaccines with improved stability at non-refrigerated temperatures.

The initiative is supported by a $450 million commitment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as $27.1 million from the Wellcome Trust and $4.5 million from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR). A total of 14 Grand Challenges were identified based on suggestions from more than 1000 scientists from around the world. The 14 Challenges were published in Science in October 2003. Of the 1500 project ideas received, 43 were selected. RxKinetix' grant was based on the Grand Challenge #2 entitled "Prepare vaccines that do not require refrigeration".

"We have already demonstrated the benefit of using RxKinetix' thermostable ProGelz(TM) as an excellent vehicle for vaccine delivery as part of our ProJuvant(TM) vaccine program," said Harry Ross, M.D., Chairman and CEO. "The unique properties of the ProGelz vehicle in which the vaccine will be incorporated will not only stabilize the vaccine and, hence, extend its shelf life but will also render it impervious to extreme fluctuations in temperature. Both these attributes are of critical importance in breaking the infamous 'cold-chain' currently necessary for the delivery of vaccines to remote regions of the Developing World." Today, approximately 50% of vaccines sent to developing countries are no longer active by the time they reach the patient.

RxKinetix will use the grant to develop room temperature, stable vaccines for measles and hepatitis B. The hepatitis B project will be a collaboration with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention who are supplying RxKinetix with hepatitis B vaccine.

RxKinetix is a specialty pharmaceutical company that uses its proprietary drug delivery technologies to develop new medicinal products. These include therapeutic antibodies, vaccines and growth factor formulations. The company's proprietary drug delivery technologies have the potential to substantially improve or enable existing compounds or products by enhancing efficacy, creating sustained release and reduced dosing.