Allied Healthcare Group's investment company, Coridon, which is led by Professor Ian Frazer, is in the process of developing a next generation therapeutic Human papilloma virus (HPV) DNA-based vaccine or 'Gardasil 2.0' vaccine. The HPV vaccine is designed to combat existing HPV infection and to prevent and treat cancer onset.

"Last month, Allied Healthcare Group announced the successful results of its initial study of novel HPV vaccine, which was shown to prevent tumor development in mice, displaying a therapeutic effect - a key differentiator (and improvement) on Gardasil," explained Mr Lee Rodne, MD, Allied Healthcare Group.

Allied Healthcare Group's investment company Coridon is developing the next generation of vaccines for the prevention and treatment for a range of infectious diseases and cancers in humans, including its latest HPV vaccine. Coridon's DNA vaccine technologies differ from conventional vaccines in that they offer both preventative and therapeutic value.

Allied Healthcare Group's strategy is to utilize this unique patented codon optimization technology to produce prophylactic and/or therapeutic DNA vaccines for a range of infectious diseases and cancers in humans. Product development is currently focused on herpes virus vaccines. The herpes phase I study is designed to explore the safety of the vaccine as well as looking at its ability to generate an immune response in uninfected people.

Sharing the plans for the coming year, Mr Rodne said that, "Allied Healthcare Group will continue to progress its HPV vaccines in 2013. Allied recently released its latest preclinical HPV vaccine study results and is proceeding with further programs. Its HPV vaccine program is progressing well towards phase I, which is scheduled to start in the first half of 2013."

In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 26.8 percent of 14-to-59 year old females are currently infected and over 25 million people have HPV infection and another 6.2 million people will become infected each year. If proven safe and effective, Allied Healthcare Group's HPV vaccine could offer an alternative to Gardasil that both protects from HPV infection and reduces associated cancer risk in those already exposed.