IDRI Awarded Contract from BARDA to Develop Next Generation Adjuvants for Pandemic Flu

The Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) has been awarded an $1.8 million contract from the Biomedical Advance Research and Development Authority (BARDA). IDRI's work will focus on development of adjuvant formulations with options up to $8.5 million over three years when further development and manufacture of priority candidates are approved by the agency.

"BARDA is supporting an important expansion of IDRI's technology to solutions that address neglected diseases as well as those that affect us all in the United States," says Dr. Darrick Carter, director of formulations at IDRI and principal investigator on the BARDA influenza contract. Adjuvants and other immunostimulants can improve the body's immune response to diseases like influenza, in turn, reducing the amount of vaccine needed for protection (dose-sparing). The use of adjuvants will allow for expansion of vaccine supply to meet the necessary global demands during a pandemic.

BARDA is within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. The project is part of the innovations portfolio awarded out of BARDA's Strategic Science and Technology Division's Innovation BAA (Broad Agency Announcement).

Adjuvants are compounds used to improve the body's immune response to vaccines. Adjuvant technology is proving invaluable in the development of vaccines for serious diseases for which vaccines are not currently available, including malaria and HIV.

Adjuvants are a key research component of IDRI's malaria, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis and leprosy vaccine development programs supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Leprosy Missions.

IDRI is a Seattle-based not-for-profit organization committed to applying innovative science to the research and development of products to prevent, detect and treat infectious diseases of poverty.