Patients with compromised immune systems benefit significantly

Rockville, MD, Feb. 13, 2002 A single injection of a first-of-its-kind experimental vaccine, Nabi(tm) StaphVAX(tm)(S. aureus polysaccharide conjugate vaccine), reduced bloodstream infections caused by the often drug-resistant and potentially deadly bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, in end-stage kidney disease patients by nearly 60 percent, according to a phase 3 study that appears in the February 14th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. The study was conducted by investigators from Kaiser Permanente in collaboration with scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and at Nabi (Nasdaq: NABI).

Staphylococcus aureus is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections, including bloodstream infections, or bacteremias. Community-acquired Staph infections are also of growing concern. Staph is one of the most frequent and potentially deadly bacterial infections in hospitals today. Now, for the first time, an experimental vaccine has been shown to reduce the incidence of bloodstream infections caused by this bacteria, says co-author Robert Naso, Ph.D., senior vice president of quality, regulatory and product development at Nabi, the biopharmaceutical company that is developing the vaccine and supported the study.

After just one injection, StaphVAX reduced the incidence of systemic S. aureus infection in the blood by 57 percent, through 40 weeks of the 54-week study. By the end of the study, 86 percent of the patients had responded to the candidate vaccine with high levels of specific antibody.

Kidney disease patients on hemodialysis are among the least likely to respond to a vaccine because their immune systems are generally compromised. Based upon previous clinical studies in normal, healthy volunteers, we believe that other patient populations at ris
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Contact: Joan Kureczka
JKureczka@aol.com
415-821-2413
Kureczka/Martin Associates
13-Feb-2002