VGX Pharmaceuticals wins $1.9M bioterrorism contract
Pennsylvania company receives contract from U.S. government to develop skin micro-electroporation for improved biodefense vaccine efficacy
Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based VGX Pharmaceuticals was awarded a $1.9 million contract from an agency of the Department of Defense to develop a technology for intradermal delivery of DNA vaccines and therapeutics.
Under the contract, the privately held VGX will demonstrate in vivo efficacy of vaccines derived from DNA plasmid-based pox virus antigens. VGX uses what it calls a “skin micro-electroporation system” to deliver vaccines as a defense against bioterrorism. The device, called Cellectra, is portable, waterproof, shock-proof, battery-operated, and software-driven, VGX said.
The contract was awarded by the Fort Belvoir, Virginia-based Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which was established in 1998 to focus on reducing, eliminating, and countering the threat from weapons of mass destruction.
