HIV-VAC, Inc.'s Dr. Gordon Skinner Files Patent Application for a New HIV Vaccine

HIV-VAC, Inc.'s Dr. Gordon Skinner Files Patent Application for a New HIV Vaccine

Business Wire - April 2, 2003

TORONTO--HIV-VAC, Inc announced today that Dr. Gordon Skinner, MD(Hons) the Director of Research of HIV-VAC and the original developer of HIV-VAC's proposed vaccine (NFU.Ac.HIV1RU1295(JM)) designed to combat HIV/AIDS, has, in conjunction with Intracell Vaccines Ltd, filed a patent application with the United Kingdom Patent and Trademark Office for a method of inhibiting the release of HIV from an HIV-infected cell. This application covers what HIV-VAC believes is a novel method of vaccine preparation and use. The proposed new vaccine will operate by a different defense mechanism and will also reduce manufacturing costs. The proposed new vaccine complements the vaccine that HIV-VAC is currently marketing and initial studies indicate that the proposed new vaccine might offer more breadth of protection since it is not dependent on individual strains of HIV and could possibly be effective against all strains of the HIV virus. Development work on the proposed new vaccine will continue for approximately one year after which HIV-VAC expects that it will be tested in a Phase I Trial.

Although the patent for the new proposed vaccine is not being filed by HIV-VAC, under the license acquisition agreement dated April 6, 1999, between HIV-VAC and Intracell Vaccines Ltd, HIV-VAC will have the exclusive worldwide rights to the use of the vaccine as it relates to HIV/AIDS. Dr. Skinner, along with HIV-VAC's CEO Kevin Murray and Vice President John Palethorpe, each equally own all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Intracell Vaccines Ltd.

HIV-VAC, Inc. is a development stage BioTech company in the business of developing and marketing a vaccine intended to combat HIV/AIDS. The company has completed pre-clinical trials in the UK and Russia on the vaccine NFU.Ac.HIV1RU1295(JM), and is expects to be able to initiate Phase I/II trial within the next 6 months.

The information contained in this press release, including any "forward looking" statements within the meaning of section 27A of the securities Act of 1993 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 contained herein, should be reviewed in conjunction with the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-KSB and other publicly available information regarding the Company, copies of which are available from the Company upon request. Such publicly available information sets forth many risks and uncertainties related to the Company's business and such statements, including risks and uncertainties related to that are unpredictable and outside of the influence and/or control of the Company. In particular, these risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: that third parties may be successful in challenging the patent issued; that granted claims may be held invalid or interpreted differently by a court of law; that other patents will issue that will block the Company from commercializing the technology covered by the patents; and that the benefits that Company believes can be derived from the patented technology will not be realized due to difficulties encountered in the long and expensive process of the development of new technologies and the cost and uncertainty in obtaining regulatory approval for products based on these technologies. In addition, there are many other risks and uncertainties inherent in the development of the Company's products, including the risk of not obtaining regulatory approval for a variety of reasons and the risk of adverse side effects in humans. Other risks relating to Company are detailed from time to time in documents filed by Company with the SEC.

Note to Editors: In "NFU.Ac.HIV1RU1295(JM)" mentioned in this release, the "RU1295" should be subscript.

CONTACT: HIV-VAC, Inc.

Kevin W. Murray, 705/444-6317

SOURCE: HIV-VAC, Inc.

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