Anthrax prevention options in the works...

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http://dailynews./htx/ap/20011010/us/anthrax_vaccine_glance_1.html

Wednesday October 10 5:28 AM ET

Companies Seeking Anthrax Vaccine

By The Associated Press,

As BioPort Corp. of Lansing, Mich., awaits U.S. Food and Drug Administration

approval to ship its anthrax vaccine, several labs are trying to make a

better one:

- Vaxin, in Birmingham, Ala., is working on a genetically engineered anthrax

vaccine that could be given with a skin patch.

- Scientists from biotech firm EluSys Therapeutics say they are developing

an antidote to anthrax that soldiers would inject before entering combat.

- Goutam Gupta, a biologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, is doing

research on ``decoy molecules'' that would fool anthrax and HIV bacteria

into latching onto the decoy, allowing the body's immune system time to

destroy the invaders.

- Scientists from the University of Texas Health Science Center, Air

Force Base and Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research are studying

salmonella to see if it could prove valuable in developing oral vaccines

against anthrax, tularemia and other potential biological weapons.

- Seattle-based Corixa Corp. has been working with a $3.5 million grant from

the Department of Defense to develop drugs administered by inhaler or nasal

spray that would fight anthrax and other diseases.

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