ATLANTA, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GeoVax Labs, Inc. , www.geovax.com, an Atlanta based biotechnology company, announced the addition of company co-founder Dr. Harriet Robinson to its staff as Vice President of Research & Development. Dr. Robinson is known worldwide for her outstanding work on retrovirus biology and development of DNA vaccines with special emphasis on HIV/AIDS.
Significant advances by GeoVax's HIV/AIDS vaccine development program have warranted Dr. Robinson's full time participation. She has been instrumental in GeoVax's success through her HIV/AIDS vaccine development activities while at Emory University and as Chief Scientific Advisor to GeoVax. Dr. Robinson joined GeoVax part time in Nov. 2007 and will become full time Feb. 15, 2008.
By focusing her efforts exclusively at GeoVax, Dr. Robinson intends to speed up the vaccine development and human trial evaluation program required to meet FDA regulatory requirements and future vaccine commercialization efforts.
"Our AIDS vaccine efforts are rapidly moving forward to a new and exciting level and include plans for large Phase 2 human trials in 2008," Dr. Robinson said. "It's important for me to be at GeoVax full time to work with our excellent team in this important effort. It is my conviction that our AIDS vaccine is a prime candidate to be safe and effective in preventing AIDS."
"As a co-founder of GeoVax, Dr. Robinson has been instrumental in the success our company has achieved to date," said Don Hildebrand, President, CEO, and Chairman of GeoVax Labs, Inc. "Her leadership in HIV/AIDS vaccine research is invaluable. We believe her contributions will positively impact the lives of millions of people worldwide."
About Dr. Harriet Robinson:
Dr. Robinson is the inventor of GeoVax's HIV-1 AIDS vaccine technology and co-founder of GeoVax Labs, Inc. She served as Chief of Microbiology and Immunology at Emory University's Yerkes National Primate Research Center and was an Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the Emory University School of Medicine.
Dr. Robinson is a pioneer in DNA vaccines and one of the world's leading AIDS vaccine researchers. Research with retroviral vectors led to her pioneering studies with DNA vaccines. Her developmental work with HIV/AIDS vaccines has been guided by the ability of candidate GeoVax vaccines to raise protection against AIDS in non human primate models. In a series of 3 major vaccine trials involving 26 different trial groups, she identified and took forward the vaccine candidates'/formulations that provided the best protection. These protection studies led to selection of effective AIDS vaccines to move forward into advanced human clinical trials.
Dr. Robinson has published extensively on HIV/AIDS vaccine research, with more than 150 referred scientific journal publications, 50 monograph reviews and six book chapters authored. She has consulted for the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization.
Dr. Robinson received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and earned her PhD in Microbiology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been elected to the American Academy of Microbiology and elected as an "AAAS Fellow" (American Association for the Advancement of Science) where she was recognized for her outstanding work on retrovirus biology and development of DNA vaccines with special emphasis on HIV/AIDS vaccines.
GeoVax Labs, Inc.
GeoVax Labs, Inc. is a biotechnology company, established to develop, manufacture, license and commercialize human vaccines for diseases caused by HIV-1 (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and other infectious agents. GeoVax's vaccine technology is covered by 20 issued or filed patent applications. GeoVax HIV/AIDS vaccines are designed to prevent Acquired Immunodeficiency Disease (AIDS), caused by the virus known as HIV-1. GeoVax HIV/AIDS vaccines may be effective as therapeutics (treatment of people infected with AIDS virus). Studies evaluating these vaccines in HIV/AIDS infected individuals are in the planning stage. GeoVax's core HIV/AIDS vaccine technologies were developed through a collaboration of colleagues at Emory University's Vaccine Center, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the GeoVax team.
GeoVax HIV/AIDS vaccines are moving forward in human clinical trials administered by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN-Division of the National Institutes of Health). Two (2) human trials have been successfully completed and three (3) human trials involving over 105 individuals are currently ongoing with excellent safety and positive anti-HIV-1 immune responses in the majority of vaccine recipients. GeoVax and the HVTN are currently preparing for very important Phase 2 human trials which are being planned for mid 2008.
Safe Harbor Statement: All statements in this news release, not statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on expectations and assumptions on the date of this press release and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, whether: GeoVax can develop and manufacture these vaccines with the desired characteristics in a timely manner, GeoVax's vaccines will be safe for human use, GeoVax's vaccines will effectively prevent AIDS in humans, vaccines will receive regulatory approvals necessary to be licensed and marketed, GeoVax raises required capital to complete vaccine development, there is development of competitive products that may be more effective or easier to use than GeoVax's products, and other factors over which GeoVax has no control. GeoVax assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, and does not intend to do so. Certain matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements involving certain risks and uncertainties including, without limitations, risks detailed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings and report.
CONTACT: Donald Hildebrand or Jennifer Nelms, both of GeoVax Labs, Inc.,
+1-404-727-0971
Web site: http://www.geovax.com/
