Vical Receives Milestone Payment from Merck & Co., Inc. Triggered by Planned Initiation of Investigational Cancer DNA Vac...( SAN DIEGO Dec. 1 /- Vical Incorporate...),Health

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Vical Incorporated (Nasdaq: VICL) announced today the receipt of a $1.0 million milestone payment from Merck & Co., Inc. based on Merck's planned initiation of a Phase I clinical trial of an investigational plasmid DNA (pDNA) cancer vaccine. The candidate vaccine is based on Vical's DNA gene delivery technology and encodes human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT). hTERT is the subject of separate license agreement.

"The breadth of applications for Vical's gene delivery technology continues to grow, and now encompasses vaccine candidates against infectious diseases and cancer, cancer immunotherapies, and gene-based angiogenesis for cardiovascular diseases," said Vijay B. Samant, Vical's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We are pleased that our long-standing partner Merck is expanding to a second clinical-stage evaluation of our technology in the cancer area."

About Vical

Vical researches and develops biopharmaceutical products based on its patented DNA delivery technologies for the prevention and treatment of serious or life-threatening diseases. Potential applications of the company's DNA delivery technology include DNA vaccines for infectious diseases or cancer, in which the expressed protein is an immunogen; cancer immunotherapeutics, in which the expressed protein is an immune system stimulant; and cardiovascular therapies, in which the expressed protein is an angiogenic growth factor. The company is developing certain infectious disease vaccines and cancer therapeutics internally. In addition, the company collaborates with major pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies that give it access to complementary technologies or greater resources. These strategic partnerships provide the company with mutually beneficial opportunities to expand
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