Long time SBIR Involved, Hawaii Biotech Inc (HBI) works in research and development of vaccines for established and emerging infectious diseases. Recent vaccine candidates in clinical or pre-clinical development target the West Nile virus, Tick borne flaviviruses, Zika virus, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, and Chikungunya virus. HBIs drug development activities are focused on small molecule drugs that block intracellular and extracellural bacterial toxins. Product opportunities include anti-toxin drugs for the lethal factor from B. anthracis and the botulinum toxin from C. botulinum. The company also partners its proprietary saponin adjuvant for vaccine development. The company has created two lead compounds: Cardax, which is designed for acute and chronic cardiovascular indications, and Heptax, which is designed to treat liver damage in patients with the Hepatitis C infection. The Companys vaccine technology is based on the production of high quality recombinant proteins using stable insect cell lines. The high quality of the proteins produced results in immune responses equivalent to, or better than, traditional live or inactivated virus approaches. This technology is applicable to a wide variety of diseases including West Nile, dengue, tick borne encephalitis, influenza, hepatitis C, malaria, Japanese encephalitis, Ebola, Eastern equine encephalitis, and others. In a transaction approved by Bankruptcy court, in August 2010, Merck Sharp and Dohme purchased certain assets from Hawaii Biotech, including all rights to the dengue virus vaccine developed by the Company. The firm's SBIR eligibility remains intact and Hawaii Biotech continues to receive SBIR funding.
