The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on Friday exercised an option for RiVax, Soligenix, Inc.’s new heat-stable ricin vaccine.
Terms of the agreement are to advance the development of Soligenix’s thermostabilization technology, ThermoVax, combined with the company’s ricin vaccine as a medical countermeasure to prevent the effects of ricin exposure.
The option contract will provide the company with $4.3 million in funding in addition to the $13.5 million already awarded. If all contract options are exercised, the total award of up to $24.7 million will support the preclinical, manufacturing and clinical development activities necessary to advance heat-stable RiVax with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“The exercise of this option validates Soligenix’s success on contractual work completed to date and reflects NIAID’s ongoing commitment to advance development of viable thermostabilization technologies that can be applied to important vaccine preparations,” Christopher Schaber, president and CEO of Soligenix, said. “It also highlights the government’s commitment to identification and development of countermeasures to protect both the public and, more likely, first responders, in the event of ricin exposure. We thank NIAID for its past and present support and look forward to advancing RiVax development toward potential FDA licensure and government procurement.”
Soligenix is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat rare diseases where there is an unmet medicinal need.