Dutch biotechnology company Crucell N.V has embarked on a formal collaboration with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to jointly develop a vaccine against Ebola. Ebola virus induces the deadly Ebola fever and there are no vaccines to either prevent or to treat the disease. Outbreaks in Africa have costs hundreds of lives.
The vaccine will be based on Crucell's AdVac, an adenovirus-based vaccination vector. Vaccine-production will utilise Crucell's human designer cell line PER.C6(TM). AdVac will be equipped with optimized Ebola genes that have been created by researchers from the infectious disease section of the NIH.
An experimental Ebola vaccine produced at the NIH has already been tested successfully on monkeys.
Under the terms of the agreement Crucell obtains an option on exclusive worldwide commercialisation rights to the resulting Ebola vaccine. The vaccine is targeted towards travelers, government officials, military personnel and people living in Ebola-endemic areas in Africa. In addition, the vaccine could provide protection from the lethal virus. Also with AdVac, safe and potent vaccines can be produced in large quantities, an important factor in the event of biological warfare.
Crucell was formed out of the 2000 merger of IntroGene and U-BiSys.
www.crucell.com

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