Not-for-profit group gets new funding for TB vaccine research

9 Sep 2008

Paul Chinnock

Source: Infectious Disease Research Institute (see original article)

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The Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), based in Seattle, USA, has received a US government grant for the development of adjuvant combinations specifically designed to enhance the immune response to new tuberculosis vaccine antigens.

Adjuvants are compounds used to improve the body’s immune response to vaccines. Most new adjuvants are owned by large pharmaceutical companies and not easily accessible to academics and not-for-profit organizations. IDR says its work is based on a conviction that the poorest deserve the best technologies to fight against infectious diseases. It is therefore developing a library of adjuvants that can be combined to target specific immune pathways and improve vaccine protection.

The $6.3 million grant comes from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). IDRI says the new funding will enable the selection of the most promising adjuvant formulations, their evaluation in preclinical models, and the development of manufacturing processes for further testing in clinical trials.

IDRI has received several other grants and contracts from NIAID to support its TB vaccine effort. A team of more than 30 researchers at IDRI is dedicated to developing products not only to prevent, but also to detect and treat TB.

The announcement of this latest grant follows the award in October 2007 of a five-year $29 million grant to IDRI from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the development of adjuvants suitable for use in malaria vaccine candidates.