AlphaVax Inc has been awarded two National Institutes of Health (NIH) biodefense grants to develop new vaccines, using the company's proprietary technology, against two groups of disease-causing agents that could be used potentially in terrorist attacks.

The AlphaVax grants total $16.6 million and were made by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), part of the NIH in Bethesda, Md., an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The first grant for $9.1 million is to develop a vaccine against botulinum neurotoxins, and the second $7.5 million grant is for a vaccine against a group of equine encephalomyelitis viruses that can cause illness in people, as well as horses.

The NIH awards will be spread over four and-a-half-years and will fund pre-clinical development, manufacture of vaccine for clinical trials, and a Phase I clinical study.

AlphaVax received a previous NIH biodefense grant in 2002, a $6 million award for work on a vaccine against Marburg virus. In all three programs, AlphaVax is collaborating with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick, Md., where work with the disease-causing forms of the biodefense agents will be performed.