WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Biomedica, Inc. (Nasdaq: BBII) announced today that BBI Biotech Research Laboratories (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boston Biomedica) has been awarded three Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants totaling approximately $850,000 relating to the Company's research and development efforts in nucleic acid testing for infectious diseases.
The first grant is a six month Phase I award of approximately $100,000 for preliminary development of a sensitive and specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for Babesia DNA to be used in both the early diagnosis of babesiosis and in the monitoring of therapy. Babesiosis is a tick-borne disease that shares the same vector as Lyme Disease, the most prevalent tick- borne disease in the US. These diseases are often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed; thus, better assays are needed to confirm an infection and monitor the effectiveness of therapy.
The second grant is a six month Phase I award of approximately $100,000 to develop a specific and reliable microtiter plate assay format for testing large numbers of clinical samples for the newly described human pathogen known as transfusion transmissible virus (TTV). This assay will be used to test plasma samples from individuals at risk for this hepatitis-producing infection and to subtype those that give positive reactions.
The third grant is a two year Phase II award of approximately $650,000 to further develop and refine a solid-phase plate assay (SPPA) that Boston Biomedica recently developed with SBIR Phase I funding from the NIH. This test will be used to differentiate the major HIV-1 subtypes of groups M and O. The large number of HIV-1 subtypes worldwide, and the AIDS pandemic, pose a formidable challenge for virus detection, transmission and infectivity studies, and anti-viral and vaccine development. BBI's proposed refined SPPA will be a prototype kit for HIV-1 subtyping that will be useful in monitoring the extent of global HIV-1 variation and the spread of AIDS, to subtype plasma samples for the preparation of molecular controls, and for the development of antivirals and vaccines.
Mr. Richard T. Schumacher, CEO, Chairman and Founder of BBI said: "We are very pleased that the NIH has decided BBI Biotech merits these awards. These SBIR grants represent a continuation of our commitment to further expand our broad range of nucleic acid testing services and related products which address the needs of the infectious diseases diagnostic marketplace, the focus of our core business".
Boston Biomedica, Inc. is an infectious diseases management company providing products and services for the detection and treatment of infectious diseases (ID) such as AIDS, Lyme Disease, and Viral Hepatitis. The Company has four business units: (1) BBI Diagnostics, an ISO 9001 certified manufacturer and seller of quality control and other diagnostic products used to increase the accuracy of in-vitro diagnostic tests, (2) BBI Clinical Laboratories, a leading specialty infectious diseases testing laboratory, (3) BBI Biotech Research Laboratories, providing R&D support for the other BBI business units as well as contract research services for third parties, and (4) BBI Source Scientific, an ISO 9001 certified manufacturer of laboratory and diagnostic instrumentation. In addition, the Company is pursuing research and development programs in the potentially explosive areas of pressure cycling technology (PCT) and drug discovery, with the goal of introducing new solutions for the detection and treatment of infectious diseases.
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 the assays or products referred to above into commercially successful products, 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 year ended December 31, 1998 and on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 1999. Copies of this document may be obtained by contacting the Company or the SEC.
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SOURCE Boston Biomedica, Inc.
Web site: http: //www.bbii.com
CONTACT: Richard T. Schumacher, CEO & Chairman, or William R. Prather, M.D., Sr. VP Finance & Business Dvlp. of Boston Biomedica, Inc., 508-580-1900
