Arbovax, Inc. To start pre-clinical Dengue vaccine trials

RALEIGH, N.C., 21 April 2010 — Arbovax, an early-stage company developing vaccines against insect-borne diseases, will start preclinical testing of a unique new Dengue fever vaccine in early May.

Arbovax has signed a contract with Hamden, Connecticut-based RxGen to conduct the trials in non-human primates at the St Kitts Biomedical Research Foundation. The Walter Reid Army Institute of Medical Research is providing additional assistance in the testing process.

“These trials represent a significant milestone for our investors and for global health” said Malcolm Thomas, CEO of Arbovax, “RxGen has a very experienced team that will complete this work by August under closely supervised conditions.”

The Arbovax core technology was developed by Dennis Brown, Ph.D., and Raquel Hernandez, Ph.D., at North Carolina State University.

“We believe our proprietary approach will be shown to offer unique benefits in vaccine efficiency. It offers potential for widespread campaigns against Dengue and numerous other diseases that are mainly carried by mosquitoes, including Japanese Encephalitis, West Nile, Chikungunya and Yellow Fever.”

The privately held Arbovax is targeting the initial study to test the effectiveness of three of the company’s modified viruses. A similar follow-up round of testing is planned.

The firm has been propelled by more than $400,000 in loans from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and more than $1.5 million in Series A financing.

Arbovax’s initial focus, Dengue Fever, is ranked second only to Malaria by the World Health Organization, for its devastating global impact.