SRI International Awarded a Multimillion Dollar Contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

SRI to Develop Drugs and Antibodies for Avian Flu, SARS, West Nile Virus and Other Infectious Conditions

MENLO PARK, Calif. -- SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development organization, today announced that it has been awarded a $56.9 million contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to provide preclinical services for the development of drugs and antibodies for anti-infective therapeutics.

SRI will provide five years of support for the development of treatments for avian flu, SARS, West Nile virus, hepatitis, and biodefense pathogens and toxins. SRI will perform medicinal chemistry, custom drug synthesis, formulation, analytical chemistry, clinical manufacturing, microbiology and virology screening, pharmacokinetics, safety testing, and preparation of Investigational New Drug (IND) applications to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"We are very excited to have won this important contract, which further establishes SRI as one of the foremost anti-infective contract research organizations in the United States," said Jon Mirsalis, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., managing director of SRI's Biosciences Division and Principal Investigator for the program. "This major project, coupled with SRI's basic research groups, demonstrates SRI's capabilities to take projects from idea to IND stage."

In addition to this contract for anti-infective therapeutic development, SRI has worked for many years with NIAID's Division of AIDS conducting safety, formulation, and clinical manufacturing projects, as well as with the NIAID biodefense safety, vaccine, and screening programs.

About SRI's Biosciences Division

SRI International's Biosciences Division is a unique organization of approximately 200 people, with all of the resources necessary to take chemical and biological research programs from "idea to IND"[TM] - from initial discovery to investigational new drug applications to start human clinical trials. The Biosciences Division performs basic research on disease mechanisms like an academic institution; drug discovery and the development of biologics like a biotechnology or pharmaceutical company; and full-service preclinical contract research and development and pharmaceutical sciences like a CRO (contract research organization).

To date, SRI has developed nine drugs internally that have entered clinical trials, with several more currently undergoing preclinical evaluation. Marketed examples of these drugs include bexarotene and halofantrine. Additionally, working with government and industry partners, SRI has helped advance more than 100 drugs into clinical trials, and more than 30 drugs onto the market. Through collaborations with other divisions at SRI, Biosciences is also working at the interfaces of science to create technical platforms for the next generation of drug discovery and development in areas such as drug delivery, real-time diagnostics and systems biology.

About SRI International

Silicon Valley-based SRI International (www.sri.com) is one of the world's leading independent research and technology development organizations. Founded as Stanford Research Institute in 1946, SRI has been meeting the strategic needs of clients for 60 years. The nonprofit research institute performs client-sponsored research and development for government agencies, commercial businesses, and private foundations. In addition to conducting contract R&D, SRI licenses its technologies, forms strategic partnerships, and creates spin-off companies.