The U.S. National Institutes of Health has provided an Alabama biotechnology firm with $1.4 million in new funding to pursue a next-generation anthrax vaccine, the Birmingham Business Journal reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 6).
Vaxin Inc. received its initial government grant in 2005.
“Securing this additional, nondilutive funding ... validates our anthrax vaccine approach, demonstrating that we have successfully met the early milestones for this program and will allow us to quickly move forward in our preclinical development,” said Vaxin CEO Bill Enright.
The company intends a new vaccine to be effective against multiple strains of anthrax. To date, the Food and Drug Administration has certified only one anthrax vaccine (Jimmy DeButts, Birmingham Business Journal, Dec. 10).