Emergent BioSolutions and University of Oxford join hands to develop TB vaccine

The University of Oxford and Emergent BioSolutions have formed a joint venture, The Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium, to further develop MVA85A, a clinically advanced vaccine candidate for the prevention of tuberculosis. The University of Oxford, through its technology transfer office, Isis Innovation, has exclusively licensed the MVA85A tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidate and related technology to the consortium. The consortium will work with the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation to evaluate the efficacy of MVA85A in infants in a Phase IIb clinical trial anticipated to begin in 2009. The trial will take place at a clinical trial site developed by Aeras and the University of Cape Town's South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative in Worcester, South Africa. The consortium has secured GBP8 million from The Wellcome... [read full story]