More vaccines planned for military troops...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., June 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Birmingham-based Southern Research Institute has landed a contract to develop drugs, vaccines, and toxoids to protect U.S. Army troops abroad from dangers ranging from biological warfare to exotic diseases.

Under the contract, estimated at $10.5 million, Southern Research will conduct toxicology studies on new and existing drugs. The institute is already working on complex toxicology studies on an antimalarial drug and an anticyanide agent. Those task orders were the first two under the contract, awarded by the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA), which is commissioned to develop new drugs, vaccines, and toxoids for the protection of Army personnel.

According to Dr. John Page (Manager, Government Toxicology) who is principal investigator on the contract, "This is a task order type of contract. The Army will add funds as they identify specific projects. Preliminary information supplied by the USAMRAA suggests that we will be testing a large variety of drugs over the next five years."

In some cases, Southern Research's Toxicology Department will test potential drugs that haven't been used yet. In others, they will evaluate existing drugs being considered for use in larger populations to determine their effects on different risk groups, such as pregnant women or women of childbearing age. In the latter case, studies are conducted to evaluate the effect of the drug on reproductive performance, fetal development, and the long-term effect on development of children born to mothers treated with the drug during pregnancy.

A full range of toxicology studies may be conducted on drugs submitted to the Toxicology Department under this program. These studies may include acute dose-range finding studies, maximum tolerated dose or approximate lethal dose studies, acute, subchronic, and chronic toxicity studies, carcinogenicity studies, mutagenicity studies, lethality studies, neurological and behavioral studies, pharmacokinetics studies, and reproduction/teratology studies. "While we expect to conduct most of the work in our Birmingham facility," said Dr. Page, "we may place some of the studies in our Frederick, Maryland facility."

Southern Research, headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., is a private institute that conducts research in a wide variety of fields, including health, space, defense, energy, and the environment.

SOURCE Southern Research Institute

CO: Southern Research Institute; U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition      Activity

06/19/97 11:05 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com