MEDFORD, MA – October 27, 2005 – Ancora Pharmaceuticals Inc., based in Medford, Massachusetts, has received a $3.3 Million multi-year Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Ancora will use the funding for the development of a synthetic carbohydrate-based anti-toxin malaria vaccine candidate.
“Given the encouraging pre-clinical results, Ancora is excited to continue the commercial development of this promising malaria vaccine candidate,” said Ancora President John Pena, Ph.D. “The funding provided by the NIAID will help propel our efforts to develop a cost- effective vaccine solution against one of the most pressing infectious diseases utilizing our unique carbohydrate synthesis expertise.”
Anti-toxin derived vaccines have been successful in the prevention of diphtheria and tetanus. Ancora is adopting a parallel strategy using an inactive portion of the malaria toxin as the basis of its vaccine candidate. The inactive toxin molecule, a complex carbohydrate, was identified by Ancora’s scientific co-founders. Pre-clinical studies have demonstrated that significant protection is provided by the anti-toxin malaria vaccine candidate against the severe disease outcomes associated with malaria infection.
Malaria afflicts up to 10% of the global population resulting in over 400 million clinical cases and between two to three million deaths annually. The majority of these deaths are attributed to children under the age of five years. As such, malaria ranks along with Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Tuberculosis as one of the most serious infectious disease threats to humanity. Perhaps even more disconcerting is the fact that over 40% of the world’s population is at risk of malaria infection as a result of geography. Currently, a malaria vaccine product does not exist within the marketplace.
Ancora Pharmaceuticals Inc. is an emerging biotechnology company leveraging its state-of-the-art carbohydrate synthesis capability to enable carbohydrate-based drug discovery and defined oligosaccharide synthesis. The company is applying its synthesis technology both to internal drug development programs and strategic collaborations within the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector. Ancora is dedicated to the development of synthetic carbohydrate-based therapeutics including vaccines against infectious diseases such as malaria and therapeutics to treat cardiovascular and metabolic disease.
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