GenVec announces grant for respiratory syncytial virus vaccine program

GenVec, Inc. announced today 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."

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.