Grant to aid Hawaii firm in fighting chikungunya

Hawaii Biotech Inc., a privately held Honolulu-based company that is developing vaccines for infectious diseases and antitoxin drugs for biological threats, has been awarded a $600,000 federal grant to develop a vaccine to protect against infection caused by the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus.

The chikungunya virus is transmitted by the bite of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also transmits dengue and the Zika virus. Common symptoms of chikungunya virus infection are fever and joint pain. Other symptoms include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling or rash.

The Small Business Innovation Research Phase 1 grant, which was scheduled to be announced this morning, was awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.

There has been one case of chikungunya so far this year among local residents in Hawaii, according to the state Department of Health. There were six in 2015 and 22 in 2014 but none prior to that dating back to 1990, according to the DOH.

Hawaii Biotech, which is developing a vaccine for the Zika virus, is collaborating with Baylor College of Medicine and the Sabin Vaccine Institute on the chikungunya virus award.

“Chikungunya, like Zika, is infecting large populations throughout the Latin America and Caribbean region. In addition, chikungunya transmission has now begun in Texas,” Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor and president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, said in a statement. “This is a disease that will be endemic to the Western Hemisphere for years to come.”

The vaccine is being developed using Hawaii Biotech’s protein vaccine platform, which also is being used to develop a vaccine for Zika. The same technology previously was used to develop vaccines against similar mosquito-borne viruses including dengue and West Nile, which have been evaluated in human clinical studies.

“This award enables Hawaii Biotech to apply our knowledge and experience in recombinant subunit vaccine development to this important emerging disease threat,” David Clements, director of vaccine research at Hawaii Biotech, said in a statement. “The recent outbreaks of both chikungunya and Zika viruses in tropical and subtropical areas pose major public health threats to individuals living in these areas, as well as global travelers.”

At this time there is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat a chikungunya virus infection.

Hawaii Biotech will receive more than $6 million in grant contract funding this year, according to Elliot Parks, chief executive officer of Hawaii Biotech.

There have been 65 chikungunya virus cases reported nationally from 26 states through Aug. 23, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website. There were 896 cases reported in 2015 and 2,811 reported in 2014, with nearly all the cases in both those years occurring in travelers returning from affected areas.