Accentia Biopharmaceuticals: National Institute of Allergy, Infectious Disease Supports Research Into Etiology of Fungal-Induced Inflammation in Chronic Sinusitis

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Accentia Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABPI; Accentia) reports that the Mayo Medical and Graduate Schools and the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute have been awarded a National Institute of Health (NIH) grant of $2.4 million for a project entitled "The Pathogenesis of Chronic Rhinosinusitis." The grant, in part, is to support identification of which antigens of the Alternaria fungus are responsible for the inflammation of chronic sinusitis (CS). Accentia is the exclusive licensee to the Mayo patents covering the use of intranasal antifungals to treat chronic sinusitis using an already-approved antifungal, amphotericin B. for the life of the patents in the US and EU Accentia has also extended its exclusive option agreement with Mayo for worldwide rights to any and all other prescription antifungals for CS until December 6, 2008. Moreover, Accentia has a right of first refusal on any immunologic treatments developed based on identification of the specific fungal antigens responsible for CS and asthma.