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PRESS RELEASE - 06/15/2009
Intralytix Wins Army Grant for Salmonella and Shigella
Technology
Baltimore, Maryland U.S.A. - June 15, 2009 - - Intralytix, Inc.
announced today that it has been awarded a contract from the
U.S. Army to develop a bacteriophage-based food safety product
for reducing or eliminating contamination from pathogenic
Salmonella and Shigella spp. The product would be used to
eliminate or significantly reduce contamination of fruits,
vegetables and other food products.
"We are very pleased with the award because it helps to enrich
Intralytix's portfolio of phage-based, food safety products, and
it demonstrates the confidence that the U.S. Army has in
Intralytix's leadership in developing bacteriophage-based
preparations for food safety applications for military and
civilian populations," stated Dr. Alexander Sulakvelidze,
Intralytix's Vice-President for Research and Development and
Chief Scientist. He added: "We expect that, once developed,
this product will significantly improve the safety of food that
may be contaminated with pathogenic salmonella and shigella.
Its anti-salmonella phage component will be useful in reducing
the severity of worldwide salmonellosis outbreaks among civilian
and military populations. Each year, an estimated 1.4 million
cases of salmonellosis occur in the United States alone. Also,
its anti-shigella phage component will to be useful in
developing countries where U.S. troops may be stationed, and/or
where shigellosis is endemic. The annual, worldwide number of
Shigella infections is approximately 165 million, mostly in
developing countries, resulting in approximately 1.1 million
deaths."
"This will be the third phage-based food safety product
developed by Intralytix," noted the company's CEO, John Woloszyn.
He also noted that "we have previously received FDA and EPA
approvals of our phage-based cocktail effective against Listeria
monocytogenes ("ListShield"), and the U.S. Army has supported the
development of a second food safety product effective against E.
coli 0157:H7 ("EcoShield"). Commercial sales for ListShield have
recently commenced and regulatory approval of EcoShield is
expected in 2009," he added.
Intralytix, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on improving
human health through the development and commercialization of
innovative products for food safety and human therapeutics using
its core bacteriophage (or phage) technology platform.
For more information, contact John Woloszyn (410-625-0300 /
jwoloszyn@intralytix.com) or Dr. Alexander Sulakvelidze
(410-625-2533 /
asulakvelidze@intralytix.com).
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