RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Jan. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. vaccine maker AlphaVax said Monday it is approved to start testing two new vaccines for influenza and cytomegalovirus.
The company said the experimental vaccines are based on its alphavaccine technology.
"These trials will expand on our previous clinical experience with an HIV vaccine to two additional indications, influenza and CMV," said Jeff Chulay, AlphaVax's chief medical officer. "Advancing three vaccines for three different indications into the clinic validates the original design of our platform technology, which can be used against many different diseases."
AlphaVax said its CMV alphavaccine -- containing three gene targets from CMV -- will first be tested on healthy volunteers, then in target populations, such as organ transplant recipients.
The company said it would begin enrolling patients for the study in February.
AlphaVax's flu vaccine contains the hemagglutinin gene from a single strain of influenza, the company said, and the first of several trials testing that vaccine will begin enrollment in April.
Thereafter, additional trials will test other vaccine candidates for seasonal and potentially pandemic strains of influenza, AlphaVax said.
AlphaVax said its studies are funded in part by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.
