WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass., May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Biomedica, Inc. (Nasdaq: BBII) announced today that Dr. Carl Wild, Principal Scientist at BBI Biotech Research Laboratories (a wholly owned subsidiary of Boston Biomedica) has been invited to present the latest results of Boston Biomedica's novel approach to HIV vaccine development at the National Institutes of Health conference "New Concepts in HIV Vaccine Development" on Tuesday, May 4th. The NIH conference is being held in Bethesda, Maryland from May 3rd to 5th, 1999.
Over the past several years, it has become apparent that new approaches are required in order to develop an effective vaccine against HIV infection. Boston Biomedica's HIV vaccine program represents a novel and proprietary approach to the generation of a prophylactic or therapeutic vaccine targeting this devastating virus. Dr. Wild and his collaborators are focusing on regions of the gp41 envelope glycoprotein of HIV-1 that appear only transiently during the infection process. "Our approach to HIV vaccine development involves generating an immune response to peptides and recombinant proteins that represent gp41 fusion-active structures. Our data demonstrate that such an immune response can be elicited, a finding with potentially important implications for vaccine development", said Dr. Wild.
Recent studies by other researchers have added support to the idea that immunogens based on structures generated transiently during HIV fusion may be the key to generating a protective HIV vaccine. Dr. Graham Allaway, Vice President for Drug Discovery at BBI, who leads the Company's therapeutic and vaccine development effort said: "The data generated in our laboratories may provide important clues to the development of an effective HIV vaccine. While much work remains to be done, we are committed to moving our program forward with the goal of meeting this major medical need."
Dr. Wild's work is funded in part by a $500,000 award from the NIH's "Innovation Grant Program for Approaches in HIV Vaccine Research".
Boston Biomedica Inc. is a worldwide manufacturer and provider of proprietary quality control products for use with IVD test kits for the detection, analysis and monitoring of infectious diseases, including AIDS, Hepatitis, Lyme Disease and ToRCH. The Company's products are used by clinical and research laboratories, blood banks, and IVD manufacturers to help ensure the accuracy of infectious disease test results through the routine monitoring of test performance. The Company also manufactures diagnostic test kit components and laboratory instrumentation, provides specialty laboratory testing and contract research services, and has significant R&D investments in pressure cycling technology (PCT) and drug discovery.
Statements contained in this news release that state the Company's or management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future are ``forward-looking'' statements. It is important to note that the Company's actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those projected include the possibility that due to unforeseen technical and other difficulties Boston Biomedica may not be able to develop its HIV vaccine technology into commercially successful products, may not successfully raise the capital necessary to develop the HIV vaccine technology, or such development may take longer than currently expected. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained from time to time in the Company's SEC filings, including but not limited to the Company's report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 1998. Copies of this document may be obtained by contacting the Company or the SEC.
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