Contract manufacturer ABL, Inc. to provide comprehensive services.

In an effort to help the National Institutes of Health (NIH) accelerate “promising HIV prophylactic modalities into the clinic,” ABL, Inc. announced it has been awarded the contract for Preclinical Development Support by the Division of AIDS (DAIDS) within the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NAIDS), a division within NIH. Awarded a maximum funding level of $318 million, the contract is set to run for seven years.

ABL said that under the DAIDS contract the company is to provide the NIH with a range of services including product development planning, processing and assay development, commercial scale manufacturing and immunogenicity, safety and release testing.

“We believe this Preclinical Development Support contract will play an important role in transitioning the next phase of innovative ideas from the bench to the clinic,” said Dr. Thomas VanCott, ABL’s President and CEO. Noting that ABL’s full staff will be involved in executing the contract, Vancott stated, “… we share NIAID’s continued and strong dedication to identify and develop an effective HIV vaccine in the coming years of this contract.”

According to ABL, the contract’s goal is to speed the development of an HIV vaccine and effectively thwart the disease’s spread, identified as the fourth leading cause of death globally by the WHO, and continuing at a rate of more than 14,000 new infections daily. “As the program incumbent,” said the announcement, “ABL’s scientists have been working towards the development of an effective HIV vaccine, serving as the collaborative bridge between the some of the field’s most innovative investigators and the clinic.”