AlphaVax Announces New Head of Discovery, Leases Expanded Facility.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

DURHAM, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 4, 2000

AlphaVax, Inc. today announced that Jonathan F. Smith, Ph.D. will join the company in early November as senior vice president, discovery.

Dr. Smith is currently chief, Department of Viral Biology, Virology Division, US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), at Fort Detrick, Md., and is one of the original scientists who developed the AlphaVax vaccine vector technology.

In addition, two scientists from Dr. Smith's laboratories, Kurt Kamrud, Ph.D. and Jon Rayner, Ph.D., will join AlphaVax at the same time.

"We are extremely excited to have someone join the company with Jonathan Smith's expertise and international reputation," said Peter F. Young, president and CEO of AlphaVax. "Jonathan has been involved with the AlphaVax vaccine vector system, as well as other vaccine vector technologies, for more than 15 years, and he has more than 20 years of research experience in infectious diseases. One of our key strategic objectives is to establish the in-house scientific capability that makes AlphaVax the preeminent source of future progress in our core vaccine technology. His team will give us that capability in a single stroke."

The role of Dr. Smith's group will be discovering and evaluating new, complementary or alternative technological approaches to AlphaVax's basic vaccine system. Their goal will be to generate a constant pipeline of future technological improvements. The discovery group will also support the company's vaccine development projects, including new disease targets.

Dr. Smith has been a leading scientist at USAMRIID for 17 years, where he has concentrated on vaccine development and new vaccine technologies and platforms. Previously, he was assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Maryland. He earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Virology from the University of Texas at Austin and he conducted postdoctoral study at the Institute for Genetics at the University of Cologne in Germany.

To accommodate its rapid growth, AlphaVax has also signed a lease for a larger laboratory and office facility at 2 Triangle Drive in Research Triangle Park. AlphaVax plans to occupy the building's entire 30,000 square feet, of which two-thirds is laboratory space. The building can also be expanded, if necessary. Renovations should be complete for the move in Spring 2001.

"This facility is well suited to accommodate our needs and ambitions for quite some time," said Young.

AlphaVax is working to develop and commercialize a proprietary vaccine vector technology with properties that show significant promise in creating better, more effective vaccines. The company has recently focused on establishing the technology's regulatory and manufacturing platform, anticipating the start of clinical trials early next year. AlphaVax is actively expanding its staff and facilities, is talking with a growing list of potential corporate partners, and has raised more than $19 million in private funding this year.