JPM-TMT Announces Down Selection Decision for Ebola Drug Candidates

JPM-TMT's Strategy in Accordance with Original RFP

FORT BELVOIR, Va., Oct. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Defense's (DoD) Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense, Joint Project Manager Transformational Medical Technologies (JPM-TMT), completed a comprehensive evaluation of its Ebola medical countermeasure (MCM) candidate development efforts and decided that the Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (HFV) program will continue with only one of two Ebola MCM development efforts.  The Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Ebola MCM was selected for continued development. 

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"The decision to down select at this time was strategic and crucial," said David E. Hough, Joint Project Manager for JPM-TMT.  "The HFV acquisition strategy has always included a down selection prior to entering the next phase of development but near term programmatic issues required an earlier than planned decision."

"Our job is to ensure we're making the most out of every dollar we spend," he noted. "We evaluated each contractor's efforts independently.  The evaluation was conducted using all current data and in accordance with the criteria set forth in the awarded contracts and as stated in the initial solicitation.  This was certainly a tough decision but the final decision was made to move forward on continuing the development of the drug candidate that represents the best value to the Government based on what we know today."

Through its Hemorrhagic Fever Virus-Therapeutics Medical Countermeasures HFV-Tx MCM) acquisition program, JPM-TMT is targeting the Ebola virus, as well as the Marburg virus, as models for testing the development of rapidly adaptable, platform-based, post-exposure therapeutics for all HFVs. While both viruses have been mostly concentrated in certain parts of Africa, they are considered as serious threats by the DoD for their potential use as biowarfare agents.

About Joint Project Manager Transformational Medical Technologies (JPM-TMT)

JPM-TMT is a component of the U.S. Department of Defense's Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense (JPEO-CBD). JPM-TMT aims to protect the Warfighter from emerging infectious diseases, genetically altered, and unknown biological threats. Through strategic investments and partnerships with innovative biotech firms, pharmaceutical corporations, other government agencies, and academic institutions, JPM-TMT facilitates the advanced development and acquisition of adaptable platform technologies, broad-spectrum medical countermeasures, and innovative systems to enhance our nation's biodefense response capability. For more information, visit www.jpmtmt.mil.

SOURCE Joint Project Manager Transformational Medical Technologies