Program for the development of a novel vaccine against Middle ear infection started

EUR 2.3 million funding by the European Commission

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Wien (euro adhoc) - » Coordination of a European consortium of
academic and commercial partners to develop a vaccine against the
childhood disease otitis media (Middle ear infection) » The
project was selected from almost 100 applications and evaluated very
favorable in the highly competitive 4th call of the 6th Framework
Program (FP6) » The European commission will support the project
with EUR 2.3 million for the next three years

Intercell is coordinating a European consortium of academic and
commercial partners, the OMVac project, that will develop a vaccine
against the childhood disease otitis media (OM). The disease is
predominantly caused by three bacterial species, namely Streptococcus
pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis.

The OMVac project was launched by the European Commission in October
2006 with the aim to develop a novel vaccine to prevent otitis media
caused by these three species. The project was selected from almost
100 applications and evaluated very favorable in the highly
competitive 4th call of the 6th Framework Program (FP6). The European
commission will provide support to OMVac amounting to EUR 2.3 million
for the next three years. The project brings together expertise from
leading scientists and biotech companies in seven institutions from
the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Hungary and Austria under the
co-ordination of Intercell AG, Austria.

At present, there is no vaccine available to prevent otitis media
disease in children, and antibiotic treatment cannot effectively cure
bacterial OM disease. This is explained by the multitude of bacterial
pathogens and their large number of serotypes as well as the increase
in antibiotic resistance of disease causing bacterial strains. Otitis
media affects many millions of children worldwide each year and
severe forms can lead to symptoms ranging from hearing loss and
tinnitus to anorexia or conjunctivitis. The OMVac project proposes to
systematically identify genes suitable for the development of
vaccines and diagnostic markers applying expertise and technologies
ranging from proteomics and mass-spectrometry to genome-wide antigen
identification, infectious disease models mimicking human disease and
studies to further our understanding of the human immune response
towards these pathogens.

The OMVac project has set up very ambitious goals, which can only be
reached by the chosen integrated approach that teams up a group of
excellent European scientists in the field and a group of small, but
highly motivated biotech companies. It addresses a number of program
goals set within the 6th Framework Program (FP6) of the European
Union and is designed to strengthen the European Research Area, but
also aims at scientific goals towards the use of genomic information
to further our knowledge in life science and health.

OMVac-Partners
» Intercell AG, Austria (www.intercell.com)
» AGOWA GmbH, Germany (www.agowa.de)
» KF University of Graz, Austria (www.kfunigraz.ac.at)
» Semmelweis University, Hungary (www.sote.hu/english/)
» Erasmus Medical Center, The Netherlands (www.erasmusmc.nl)
» Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands
(www.umcn.nl/scientist/)
» Karolinska Institutet, Sweden (www.ki.se)

end of announcement euro adhoc 13.11.2006 06:52:51
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ots Originaltext: Intercell AG
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:
Intercell AG
Mag. Katharina Wieser
Head of Corporate Communications
Tel. +43 1 20620-303
kwieser@intercell.com

Branche: Biotechnology
ISIN: AT0000612601
WKN: A0D8HW
Börsen: Wiener Börse AG / official market


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