BioSante Pharmaceuticals Inc has licensed its Bio-Vant vaccine adjuvant on a non-exclusive basis to Corixa Corporation for use in several potential vaccines to be developed by Corixa. This agreement is a result of Corixa's completion of feasibility studies using Bio-Vant with certain Corixa protein antigens and DNA.

Under the agreement, Corixa has agreed to pay BioSante milestone payments upon the achievement by Corixa of certain milestones plus royalty payments on sales by Corixa if and when vaccines are approved using Bio-Vant and sold on a commercial basis. If Corixa sub-licenses vaccines that include Bio-Vant, BioSante will share in milestone payments and royalties received by Corixa. The license agreement covers access to Bio-Vant for a variety of cancer, infectious and autoimmune disease vaccines.

BioSante has developed its proprietary calcium phosphate nanoparticles, known as CAP, into a potentially safer and more versatile vaccine adjuvant (Bio-Vant) than aluminum hydroxide or "alum," the only FDA-approved vaccine adjuvant for human use. Calcium phosphate is a compound that occurs naturally in bones and teeth, and has been used in medicine for years. BioSante's unique, patented formulation allows the substance to function as an effective vaccine adjuvant. In a completed Phase I human clinical trial of Bio-Vant, there was no apparent difference in safety between subjects receiving Bio-Vant and those receiving placebo.

Most vaccines require the use of adjuvants to generate adequate protective immunity to prevent or treat diseases. As a result, most vaccines are combined with an adjuvant (alum) that enhances the ability of an injected vaccine to stimulate an immune response and thus protect the recipient by preventing or treating diseases. When combined with DNA or traditional antigen vaccine formulations, in animal studies Bio-Vant elicited a higher immune response than non-adjuvanted vaccines, and an immune response of the same or better magnitude as alum-formulated vaccines.