GenVec, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutic drugs and vaccines, has received a Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support the company's malaria vaccine programme. This grant, valued at approximately $600,000 over two years, will be used to develop enhancements to the company's vectors for vaccine applications against malaria.

GenVec is applying its adenovector technology to the development of malaria vaccine candidates in collaboration with the US Naval Medical Research Centre (NMRC) and PATH's Malaria Vaccine Initiative. The NMRC is currently conducting a phase I/II clinical study to assess the safety and immunogenicity of a vaccine candidate developed under this programme.

"In addition to advancing our malaria vaccine program, work under this grant may provide improvements to our technology that could be applied to other adenovector-based vaccines and therapeutics," said Dr Rick King, senior vice president of Research, GenVec.