ImmuVen, a biotech based in Champaign, Ill., was awarded a phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant totaling $1.68 million from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease.

ImmuVen received the SBIR grant for continuing development of IMV0123 against superantigens produced by methicillin-sensitive and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcal aureus. This award continues the work previously supported by a successfully completed phase I SBIR grant.

ImmuVen’s biotherapeutic approach to neutralizing superantigen toxicity is positioned to intervene in deaths and morbidity caused by superantigen production in a host of S. aureus infections including pneumonia and endocarditis. The goal of this award is to provide support for bringing IMV0123 through a pre-Investigational New Drug (IND) meeting with the FDA in addition to completing major milestones in the preclinical development of the therapeutic.