Oxford University researchers and local company work together to

Oxford, UK, 15 June 2005 …. Scientists in Oxford, developing a vaccine for HIV, hope to be able to accelerate the testing of the vaccine thanks to a donation of vital research reagents by a local Oxford company.  ProImmune Ltd, a leading provider of research reagents and services for immune monitoring, has donated reagents based on its Pro5^® MHC Pentamer technology to researchers at the MRC Human Immunology Unit for a vaccine development programme.  The vaccine is being tested in clinical trials sponsored by the Medical Research Council.

Commenting on the donation, Dr Nikolai Schwabe, CEO of ProImmune said: “We are very pleased to be able to support this important research.  The reagents we are providing will allow the researchers to accurately measure and obtain a very detailed profile of the immune system response triggered by the vaccine.  HIV is a massive global health concern and the importance of vaccine research cannot be understated.” 

Dr Tomas Hanke, leading the project at the MRC Human Immunology Unit, added: "We are extremely grateful to ProImmune for this generous donation. We expect that, having access to these reagents will facilitate our research into maximizing induction of T cell responses and help us in the development of an effective HIV-1 vaccine. The data generated through the use of ProImmune's MHC Pentamers will be extremely valuable for monitoring the effectiveness of new vaccine design approaches and help us ensure our research is going in the best direction."

Since AIDS was first reported in 1981, an estimated total of 60 million people have become infected with HIV, of whom 22 million have died.  Unlike other diseases that affect the developing world, such as malaria, the AIDS epidemic kills people at the peak of their productive age, crippling national economies and leaving millions of orphaned and stigmatized children.  The development of a safe, effective, widely accessible prophylactic vaccine is urgently needed.

The Pro5^® MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex) Pentamers are used to detect and separate T cells (a type of immune system cell) from blood samples, according to the specific disease cells that they recognise, enabling the precise and quantitative tracking of immune system responses.  The technology can be used to sensitively and accurately monitor the immune system response to new drugs and vaccines, as well as in research to better understand a wide-range of human diseases including cancer and infections.  

-ENDS- 

For more information, please contact:

At the Company:

Dr Nikolai Schwabe, ProImmune

Tel: +44(0)1865 405 128

Email: nschwabe@proimmune.com  

Media enquiries:

Sue Charles / Rowan Minnion, Northbank Communications

Tel: + 44(0)20 7886 8150

Email: s.charles@northbankcommunications.com

            r.minnion@northbankcommunications.com

Notes to Editors: 

About ProImmune

ProImmune Ltd is a private biotechnology company headquartered in Oxford, UK, that specialises in providing quality research reagents for monitoring the condition of the immune system.  ProImmune has a wide range of customers from leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as clinical and academic research institutes throughout the world.  The Company, founded in November 1999, has secured R&D funding from several DTI Smart, EUREKA and EU Framework VI project grants and has been profitable since its inception. ProImmune owns a portfolio of international patents and patent applications protecting its core products and technologies . The Company also has offices in the USA and France. For more information on ProImmune, visit www.proimmune.com  

About the MRC Human Immunology Unit

At the MRC Human Immunology Unit in Oxford, a group of scientists, led by Dr Thomas Hanke, is developing an advanced HIV vaccine, based on state of the art technology in genetic engineering and molecular medicine.  It uses synthetic forms of those fragments of the HIV virus that are known to cause immune responses and could afford protection against the disease.  To date the vaccine has been tested in Phase I and II clinical trials in London and Oxford, where it was shown to stimulate measurable immune responses in HIV low-risk, uninfected volunteers.  Current work of the Oxford group is focussing on improving immunogenicity and working out assays for measuring immune responses that are protective against HIV infection.  For more information, visit www.imm.ox.ac.uk/pages/research/human_immunology.htm