NIAID teams for anthrax treatment

CHICAGO, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., is set to partner with Advanced Life Sciences Holdings Inc. to research treatments for anthrax.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is an NIH institute supporting bio-defense research studies on Advanced Life Sciences' late-stage antibiotic treatment for anthrax, cethromycin and other bio-defense agents. In May, Advanced Life Sciences announced positive data from a study that showed cethromycin to be effective in preventing inhalation anthrax infection in primates.

The collaboration is part of Project BioShield, the U.S. government's push for medical countermeasures through drug development between basic research and acquisition of final products by the acceleration of research and development.

Authority and funding to go after promising countermeasures for addition to the Strategic National Stockpile were provided by the Department of Health and Human Services' Project BioShield. The Strategic National Stockpile is where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stores medical supplies in the event of a public health emergency in the United States.

"We are very excited about our partnership with the NIAID as it allows us to leverage the financial and scientific resources of the U.S. government's premier research institute to develop cethromycin as a broad spectrum medical countermeasure," said Michael T. Flavin, Advanced Life Sciences Holdings chief executive officer.

"With the threat of growing resistance to currently available therapies, the U.S. government is focused on procuring next-generation products with a broad spectrum of activity to complement currently held medical countermeasures in the Strategic National Stockpile. This partnership with NIAID will expand the data on cethromycin as a bio-defense application, and we expect the results to strengthen our efforts in positioning cethromycin for purchase by the U.S. government."