A Providence biotechnology firm is getting a $993,771 federal grant to develop a new vaccine against smallpox, a deadly disease that was eradicated in its natural form decades ago, but is still considered a major threat as a potential bioterror weapon.
The company, EpiVax Inc., combines in vitro immunology research with computer technology to generate new vaccines for infectious diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis and bird flu, as well as new treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases.
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Started in 1998 by Dr. Anne S. De Groot, a physician and HIV researcher, EpiVax was created to further develop and commercialize research carried out under De Groot’s direction at the TB/HIV Research Laboratory at Brown University. Its top priority has been the development of an HIV vaccine – an entirely nonprofit project – but EpiVax also provides services to researchers, government agencies, universities and pharmaceutical companies.
Now the company, which recently expanded and moved to the Jewelry District, has received a BioDefense Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to use its proprietary technologies to develop a genome-derived, epitope-driven smallpox vaccine.
It’s the second federal biodefense grant for EpiVax in just months. In September, the company got a $859,773 grant to develop a novel vaccine for Tularemia, a disease spread by fleas and ticks that could be used as a bioterrorism agent.
In the smallpox project, EpiVax scientists have two years to screen the genomes of variola (smallpox) and vaccinia (cowpox) for protein fragments known as epitopes that drive protective immunity. The goal is to identify epitopes that can be used to make a safe, effective vaccine. Because EpiVax’s work will focus on filtering the virus’s genome sequence, the scientists will not need to handle the smallpox virus in the lab.
“This project will again demonstrate our technique for making safer vaccines for the entire world,” De Groot, president and CEO of EpiVax, said in a news release. “What we learn from this project we plan to apply to the development of better vaccines for a range of infectious diseases, including avian flu. This grant also highlights the tremendous work being done in the fields of science and technology in the State of Rhode Island.”
Smallpox in its naturally occurring form hasn’t been reported in the United States since 1949, and was declared to have been eradicated worldwide by the 1970s. The smallpox virus, however, has been used to develop biological weapons, and it is considered a major threat.
The majority of Americans under 30 years old have not been vaccinated against smallpox, and the disease is highly infectious, with each person potentially infecting three to five others. There is no medicine to treat smallpox – only the pain and fever can be controlled – and the fatality rate is very high, about 30 percent.
Existing smallpox vaccines use a live, weakened form of the actual virus, which makes it risky, especially for immune-compromised people. As a result, there is a new demand for a safer kind of smallpox vaccines such as EpiVax is seeking to develop.
Marion Davis
