Date: Feb 04, 2014 Author: Duane Shimogawa Source: bizjournals (
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Hawaii Biotech Inc. said Tuesday that it was awarded a five-year, $7.4 million grant to continue the development of anthrax anti-toxin drugs.
Under the award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, the Hawaii Biotech team will continue screening potent anti-toxin small molecules to block the action of lethal factor, the protease component of lethal toxin produced by Bacillus anthracis.
The grant will support the improvement of current lethal factor inhibitors, which have demonstrated efficacy in animal models of post exposure inhalation of anthrax, as drug candidates, the Aiea-based biotech firm said.
"This NIAID grant allows Hawaii Biotech to build our drug development capabilities to match our strong vaccine development franchise," Hawaii Biotech CEO Elliot Parks said in a statement. "In doing so, we hope to help protect the public against biological agents that might be used in an act of bioterrorism."
Last April, the company acquired a patent family to West Nile virus vaccine technology from Merck & Co. that will allow it to continue to develop its down vaccine for the virus.
Hawaii Biotech also acquired from Merck (NYSE: MRK) a non-exclusive license to recombinant protein expression technology through a subsidiary.
