Aeras to Join the Human Vaccines Project to Accelerate Global Disease Prevention and Control
New York, New York (PRWEB) April 11, 2016 -- Aeras and the Human Vaccines Project announced a new collaboration aimed at accelerating the development of vaccines and immunotherapies for key global populations.
The Human Vaccines Project is a new global initiative that brings together leading academic centers, industry, nonprofits and governments in a global discovery consortium to solve the primary scientific hurdles impeding the development of vaccines and immune-driven therapies.
“Understanding the principles of human immunity represents one of the great frontiers of science and is a key to accelerating the development of vaccines against complex diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV and malaria,” said Jacqueline E. Shea, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Aeras. “The Human Vaccines Project, with its network of public and private sector partners, provides a new focus on vaccine and immunotherapeutic development.”
Under the Project’s scientific plan, a global network of leading research and development groups will conduct extensive clinical research studies aimed at decoding the immune system, facilitated by state-of-the-art bioinformatics and machine learning. Such studies will be conducted in diverse global populations, enabling for the first time a detailed understanding of how human immunity is influenced by genetics, age and environment.
“Understanding how the immune system varies by populations is essential to designing and optimizing vaccines and immunotherapies for key global demographics,” said Wayne C. Koff, Ph.D., President and Founder of the Human Vaccines Project. “Such understanding is critical for successful development of vaccines for major global diseases ranging from TB to cancers, and ensuring vaccines and therapies are designed specifically for populations most in need. We are honored to have Aeras bring its significant vaccine discovery and development expertise to facilitate the objectives of the Human Vaccines Project.”
Aeras joins a growing list of global product developers engaged with the Project including the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), which initially incubated the Project, GSK, Medimmune, Janssen, Sanofi Pasteur, Regeneron and Pfizer.
About Aeras
Aeras is a nonprofit, global biotech advancing the development of new tuberculosis vaccines for the world, in partnership with other biotech, pharmaceutical, and academic organizations. Aeras has 90 employees from over 20 countries around the world, and has offices in the U.S., Africa, and Asia. Aeras receives funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Department for International Development, the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund, and pharmaceutical organizations. Support also is received from the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, as well as from other governments, as well as partnerships and collaborations with universities and pharmaceutical companies. http://www.aeras.org
About the Human Vaccines Project
The Human Vaccines Project is a non-profit public-private partnership with the mission to accelerate the development of vaccines and immunotherapies against major infectious diseases and cancers by decoding the human immune system. The Project, incubated initially at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), has a growing list of partners and financial supporters including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, GSK, MedImmune, Sanofi Pasteur, Crucell/Janssen, Regeneron, Pfizer, Aeras, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, UC San Diego, The Scripps Research Institute, J. Craig Venter Institute and La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology. The Project brings together leading academic research centers, industrial partners, nonprofits and governments to address the primary scientific barriers to developing new vaccines and immunotherapies, and has been endorsed by 35 of the world’s leading vaccine scientists.
Ted Schenkelberg, Human Vaccines Project, +1 646.441.0894, [email protected]
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