US-based SRI International has been contracted by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Division of AIDS (NIAID-DAIDS) to provide development and manufacturing support for HIV microbicides and other non-vaccine pre-exposure (PreP) agents.
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Valued at up to $150m, the contract requires SRI to provide a wide range of preclinical product development services for candidate HIV-prevention products developed as part of investigator-initiated studies or from collaborations with outside companies and organisations.
Under the seven-year contract, the company’s division SRI Biosciences will manufacture and characterise drug products to support the progression of microbicide and PreP agents through both preclinical and clinical studies.
The contract also covers support for specific activities required by the US Food and Drug Administration to move products into clinical testing.
SRI Biosciences Center for Pharmaceutical and Chemical Technologies Formulations R&D director Gita Shankar said: “Since the early 2000s, researchers at SRI International have been involved in drug development activities to help move many microbicides, PrEP agents, and multipurpose prevention technologies through IND-enabling studies.
“We are very pleased to be given an opportunity to contribute to the acceleration of promising HIV products into clinical testing and the creation of a sustainable pipeline of prevention products and strategies.”
The use of non-vaccine biomedical prevention products could reduce the estimated 5,000 new HIV infections per day worldwide.
Image: SRI International will provide preclinical product development services for candidate HIV-prevention products. Photo: courtesy of SRI International.
