Foot-and-mouth disease vaccine work will continue

Gaithersburg, Md.

- The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended an agreement with a biopharmaceutical company to continue work developing vaccines to prevent foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

GenVec Inc. announced that DHS executed the second option of a three-year agreement with the company to develop FMD vaccines. The option will provide another $6.6 million to complete its study on FMD prevention. Exercising the option increases the DHS funding to the company from $17.5 to $18.2 million for the entire project, according to the company.

The agreement requires the DHS to conduct animal studies at the Plum Island Disease Center, while GenVec is responsible for the development, production and regulatory approval of any vaccine.

The vaccine development uses GenVec's adenovector technology and is manufactured on a proprietary GenVec cell line that can produce antigens without the use of the FMD virus. Because a live virus isn't used, the vaccine can be safely produced in the United States, GenVec says.