FIT Biotech participates in two new EU projects
February 16 2004, Press release
FIT Biotech is chosen to participate in two EU projects, one of which is designed to develop an AIDS vaccine, and the other to develop a vaccine against type I diabetes. The budget for these projects is a total of 22 million euros, from which FIT Biotech will receive almost 2 million euros.
AIDS Vaccine Integrated Project ("AVIP") is a 10-million-euro project with 15 European participants. The aim of the project is to test four different preventive HIV vaccines in healthy volunteers. One of the vaccines is FIT Biotech’s vaccine, which is based on the company’s own GTU technology. The vaccine consists of six different genes of the HI virus and it is expected to be effective against the A, B, C, F, G and H subclasses of the virus. The five-year-long project starts in 2004.
AVIP is the most important EU funded HIV vaccine development program. The project continues the work of the previous 1998-2001 EU project, coordinated by Professor Kai Krohn, where the industrial development of FIT Biotech’s HIV vaccine was started. FIT Biotech has previously tested GTU-Nef and GTU-MultiHIV for subtype B vaccines among healthy volunteers and HIV infected patients. The aim of the AVIP project is to choose the vaccines which will be later tested in the developing countries, especially in Africa.
EURO-Thymaide is a 12-million-euro project consisting of 26 European groups. The aim of the project is to find novel approaches to pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases based on new insights into thymus-dependent self-tolerance. FIT Biotech’s role in this project is to develop a vaccine against juvenile (type I) diabetes and to prove its safety and efficacy in a mouse model. The project started in the beginning of 2004 and lasts for five years.
About FIT Biotech Oyj Plc
FIT Biotech Plc (www.fitbiotech.com) is an innovative medical biotechnology company engaged in the development and commercialization of its proprietary Gene Transport Unit (GTU®) technology and GTU product applications in DNA vaccination and immune therapy. The company’s other areas of expertise are artificial immunogen, recombinant protein and antibody technologies, as well as GMP grade process development and production of DNA vaccines. In addition, the company has developed and launched test kits for the detection of natural latex allergens. FIT Biotech was established in 1995 and is located in Tampere, Finland, with operations also in Tartu, Estonia.
For additional information:
Kalevi Reijonen
CEO & President
FIT Biotech Oyj Plc
Tel. +358 40 843 5695
Fax +358 3 3138 7050
E-mail: kalevi.reijonen@fitbiotech.com
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