The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is using technology developed by GenVec in human trials of a vaccine that treats HIV.
The agency's Vaccine Research Center plans to dose 15 HIV-infected patients with a combination of a DNA prime vaccine and a booster vaccine that uses GenVec's adenovector technology, which the company says better identifies agents that the immune system uses to fight diseases.
The clinical trial will last for 48 weeks.
The Vaccine Research Center has already conducted Phase I and Phase II trials with more than 600 healthy participants to study the vaccine's preventative strength. This will be the first to treat people who have the disease.
In addition to assisting the allergy and infectious diseases institute with HIV and flu vaccines, the Gaithersburg company is working with other agencies to use the adenovector technology. The Naval Medical Research Center is using it for a malaria vaccine and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for anti-viral drugs and a foot and mouth disease vaccine.
GenVec (NASDAQ: GNVC) is developing other drugs to treat cancer, heart disease and ophthalmic disorders, including one in its second and third phases of clinical trials that battles pancreatic cancer.
Medical-technology company Bruker BioSciences (BRKR) sank following a downgrade by investment firm UBS. Biotech analyst Derik De Bruin downgraded the stock from a buy rating to neutral, saying the company is facing limited upside and increased competition from larger vendors of mass spectrometry technologies. De Bruin maintained his price target of $7. Shares fell 1.3% to $6.06.
Shares of Omnicare (OCR) dropped after a downgrade from investment research firm Stifel Nicolaus. According to health care analyst Jerry Doctrow, who downgraded the stock from a buy to hold, despite an attractive valuation, "we are no longer comfortable recommending OCR because we believe lower pricing and legal settlements could erode some or all of the expected synergy we have been assuming in 2006 and 2007." Omnicare slumped 2.5% to $42.54.
Device maker St. Jude Medical's (STJ) shares fell 2.5% to $36.04 despite the company's announcement that the Food and Drug Administration approved a new feature for its heart devices. The new feature, to be used in patients with a cardiac rhythm device or defibrillator implant, shows vital health data equivalent to what's provided in an echocardiogram within two minutes, compared with a test that usually takes between two hours and 30 minutes to conduct.
Among other health stocks on the move were Neurobiological Technologies (NTII) , 3.3% lower to $2.63, Nymox Pharmaceutical (NYMX) , whose shares lost 3% to $2.55, Bioprogress (BPRG) , down 13.7% to $7.76 and Novacea (NOVC) , off 5.2% to $5.87.
SkyePharma (SKYE) was up 2.6% to $4.74, Praecis Pharmaceuticals (PRCS) gained 9.8% to $2.02, AVI Biopharma (AVII) jumped 19.3% to $4.27 and AMN Healthcare Services (AHS) was up 4.6% to $23.03.
The agency's Vaccine Research Center plans to dose 15 HIV-infected patients with a combination of a DNA prime vaccine and a booster vaccine that uses GenVec's adenovector technology, which the company says better identifies agents that the immune system uses to fight diseases.
The clinical trial will last for 48 weeks.
The Vaccine Research Center has already conducted Phase I and Phase II trials with more than 600 healthy participants to study the vaccine's preventative strength. This will be the first to treat people who have the disease.
In addition to assisting the allergy and infectious diseases institute with HIV and flu vaccines, the Gaithersburg company is working with other agencies to use the adenovector technology. The Naval Medical Research Center is using it for a malaria vaccine and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for anti-viral drugs and a foot and mouth disease vaccine.
GenVec (NASDAQ: GNVC) is developing other drugs to treat cancer, heart disease and ophthalmic disorders, including one in its second and third phases of clinical trials that battles pancreatic cancer.
Medical-technology company Bruker BioSciences (BRKR) sank following a downgrade by investment firm UBS. Biotech analyst Derik De Bruin downgraded the stock from a buy rating to neutral, saying the company is facing limited upside and increased competition from larger vendors of mass spectrometry technologies. De Bruin maintained his price target of $7. Shares fell 1.3% to $6.06.
Shares of Omnicare (OCR) dropped after a downgrade from investment research firm Stifel Nicolaus. According to health care analyst Jerry Doctrow, who downgraded the stock from a buy to hold, despite an attractive valuation, "we are no longer comfortable recommending OCR because we believe lower pricing and legal settlements could erode some or all of the expected synergy we have been assuming in 2006 and 2007." Omnicare slumped 2.5% to $42.54.
Device maker St. Jude Medical's (STJ) shares fell 2.5% to $36.04 despite the company's announcement that the Food and Drug Administration approved a new feature for its heart devices. The new feature, to be used in patients with a cardiac rhythm device or defibrillator implant, shows vital health data equivalent to what's provided in an echocardiogram within two minutes, compared with a test that usually takes between two hours and 30 minutes to conduct.
Among other health stocks on the move were Neurobiological Technologies (NTII) , 3.3% lower to $2.63, Nymox Pharmaceutical (NYMX) , whose shares lost 3% to $2.55, Bioprogress (BPRG) , down 13.7% to $7.76 and Novacea (NOVC) , off 5.2% to $5.87.
SkyePharma (SKYE) was up 2.6% to $4.74, Praecis Pharmaceuticals (PRCS) gained 9.8% to $2.02, AVI Biopharma (AVII) jumped 19.3% to $4.27 and AMN Healthcare Services (AHS) was up 4.6% to $23.03.
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