Hawaii Biotech awarded $5.5million government grant for botulism therapy

Privately-held US biotech company Hawaii Biotech has been awarded a contract to continue developing drugs to block botulinum toxin, the toxin that causes the life-threatening disease botulism, by the US Department of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency. There is no therapeutic drug currently available for the treatment of botulism.

The award is followed by three option years with a total contract value of approximately $5.5 million. Elliot Parks, chief executive of Hawaii Biotech, said: “This contract, in addition to the $7.4 million grant for an anti-anthrax drug, demonstrates the confidence that Federal agencies have in Hawaii Biotech’s ability to develop these drug candidates, as well as our historic commitment to vaccines for tropical and emerging diseases such as West Nile Virus. Hawaii Biotech is now fully engaged in the development of therapeutic drugs to combat infectious diseases that pose potential bioterrorism threats, as well as continuing development of vaccines for infectious agents.”

Under the contract, Hawaii Biotech will be working to improve its current anti-botulinum toxin inhibitor drug candidates that have demonstrated activity in pre-clinical testing. The goal will be to enhance the stability, bioavailability and safety of these drug candidates so they can be used in humans.