Program for the development of a novel vaccine against Middle ear infection started
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EUR 2.3 million funding by the European Commission
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» Coordination of a European consortium of academic and commercial partners to develop a vaccine against the childhood disease otitis media (Middle ear infection) » The project was selected from almost 100 applications and evaluated very favorable in the highly competitive 4th call of the 6th Framework Program (FP6) » The European commission will support the project with EUR 2.3 million for the next three years
Intercell is coordinating a European consortium of academic and commercial partners, the OMVac project, that will develop a vaccine against the childhood disease otitis media (OM). The disease is predominantly caused by three bacterial species, namely Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis.
The OMVac project was launched by the European Commission in October 2006 with the aim to develop a novel vaccine to prevent otitis media caused by these three species. The project was selected from almost 100 applications and evaluated very favorable in the highly competitive 4th call of the 6th Framework Program (FP6). The European commission will provide support to OMVac amounting to EUR 2.3 million for the next three years. The project brings together expertise from leading scientists and biotech companies in seven institutions from the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Hungary and Austria under the co-ordination of Intercell AG, Austria.
At present, there is no vaccine available to prevent otitis media disease in children, and antibiotic treatment cannot effectively cure bacterial OM disease. This is explained by the multitude of bacterial pathogens and their large number of serotypes as well as the increase in antibiotic resistance of disease causing bacterial strains. Otitis media affects many millions of children worldwide each year and severe forms can lead to symptoms ranging from hearing loss and tinnitus to anorexia or conjunctivitis. The OMVac project proposes to systematically identify genes suitable for the development of vaccines and diagnostic markers applying expertise and technologies ranging from proteomics and mass-spectrometry to genome-wide antigen identification, infectious disease models mimicking human disease and studies to further our understanding of the human immune response towards these pathogens.
The OMVac project has set up very ambitious goals, which can only be reached by the chosen integrated approach that teams up a group of excellent European scientists in the field and a group of small, but highly motivated biotech companies. It addresses a number of program goals set within the 6th Framework Program (FP6) of the European Union and is designed to strengthen the European Research Area, but also aims at scientific goals towards the use of genomic information to further our knowledge in life science and health.
OMVac-Partners » Intercell AG, Austria (www.intercell.com) » AGOWA GmbH, Germany (www.agowa.de) » KF University of Graz, Austria (www.kfunigraz.ac.at) » Semmelweis University, Hungary (www.sote.hu/english/) » Erasmus Medical Center, The Netherlands (www.erasmusmc.nl) » Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands (www.umcn.nl/scientist/) » Karolinska Institutet, Sweden (www.ki.se)
end of announcement euro adhoc 13.11.2006 06:52:51
Further inquiry note:
Intercell AG
Mag. Katharina Wieser
Head of Corporate Communications
Tel. +43 1 20620-303
kwieser@intercell.com
Branche: Biotechnology
ISIN: AT0000612601
WKN: A0D8HW
Börsen: Wiener Börse AG / official market