ROCKVILLE, Md., Sept. 9, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:NABI) announced today that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health, has entered into a collaboration with Nabi to advance the Company’s promising PentaStaph(tm) vaccine candidate for the prevention and treatment of S. aureus infections in the community and hospital settings. The focus of the collaboration is to conduct pre-clinical toxicology evaluations of two new S. aureus antigens as components of the first-in-class, multivalent vaccine, targeting S. aureus infections. NIAID will fund the pre-clinical toxicology evaluations of the vaccine components manufactured and provided by Nabi. The two novel antigens are designed to protect against two of the most virulent and debilitating toxins produced by the bacteria: Panton-Valentine Leukocidin, found predominantly in community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), and alpha toxin, produced by almost all S. aureus isolates. Pre-clinical toxicology testing of these components will help enable the initiation of Phase 1 clinical trials for these new antigens in early 2009 which is one of the Company’s three development milestones for 2008.
