Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Bernadette Tansey, Chronicle Staff Writer
VaxGen shares rose almost 15 percent on the news that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health, will support further study of the company's method of trying to create immunity to the AIDS virus.
Although the company's experimental vaccine, AIDSVAX, delivered no protection to most subjects in a clinical trial involving almost 5,000 subjects, the data released in February showed hints of benefit among the 314 black participants.
Minority members and AIDS activists have urged the government to make sure no promising leads were abandoned.
Under the new two-year grant, VaxGen will examine the viral strains that infected the study subjects and determine whether an improved vaccine would be more effective against those strains. The company said it is continuing work on the AIDS vaccine, once its core mission, only to the extent that it receives outside support from the government or philanthropic foundations.
VaxGen shares rose 76 cents or 14.96 percent to close at $5.84 on Nasdaq.
"My sense is that the data they have accumulated could be quite valuable in AIDS vaccine research," said Chris Collins of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition in New York. "I do think it is appropriate that the government is helping the company to mine that data for the maximum impact."
VaxGen shares had peaked past $20 a share early this year, but took a nosedive after the Feb. 23 announcement that AIDSVAX did not clearly boost immunity.
They reached a low of $2.11 by April. During the past few months, VaxGen has been climbing out of that hole.
Even before the disappointing vaccine trial results came out, the company had begun expanding its repertoire through a joint venture with Korean companies to build two biotech manufacturing plants in South San Francisco and in Inchon, South Korea. If AIDSVAX had succeeded, the plants could have produced it. But now they're on tap for other work, such as manufacturing bioterror vaccines.
E-mail Bernadette Tansey at btansey@sfchronicle.com.
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