ATCC, the biological materials management and standards organization, has been awarded a three-year, $9.86 million task order contract by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, to manage and operate its HIV Reagent Program, formerly known as the AIDS Reagent Program. ATCC is tasked to supply the HIV/AIDS research community with no-cost, high-quality materials supporting the development and evaluation of therapeutics, vaccines, and diagnostics.
NIAID’s Preclinical Services for HIV Therapeutics Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract program supports basic and preclinical research and therapeutic product development for HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and hepatitis B and C. The scope of work ranges from initial product discovery to supporting clinical trials and/or product licensure. Under the terms of the Task Order G award, ATCC will provide the extramural scientific community with research material and preclinical product development support for candidate products that emerge from investigator-initiated research studies.
“This program extends ATCC’s long history as a national resource supporting critical public health efforts and enables the scientific research community to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent, infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases,” says Raymond H. Cypess, DVM, PhD, chairman and CEO of ATCC. “We look forward to supporting NIAID in fulfilling their mission to improve the health of our nation.”
Leveraging nearly 100 years of experience supporting the life science research community, ATCC will manage the HIV Reagent Program through the identification, acquisition, receipt, production, characterization, authentication, long-term storage, maintenance, and distribution of biological and chemical research materials necessary for basic and translational research focused on HIV. ATCC provides a central repository of materials, standardizes quality processes, and oversees their worldwide distribution.
“With this award, ATCC demonstrates commitment to quality and adherence to best practices for managing a program of this scale,” says Joseph Leonelli, PhD, vice president of Federal Solutions at ATCC. “We are proud to expand our relationship with NIAID to support their efforts to develop solutions for infectious diseases including HIV vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics.” For more information, go to the HIV Reagent Program website.