NEEDHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 2, 2006--AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAN) today announced that the International Vaccine Institute (“IVI”) has received $21 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a Cholera Vaccine Initiative (CHOVI), which will include conducting further clinical trials of CholeraGarde(R), AVANT’s cholera vaccine. Under the direction of John D. Clemens, M.D., IVI plans to conduct Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials of CholeraGarde(R) in Bangladesh and India beginning in 2007. IVI will be purchasing clinical materials produced at AVANT’s Fall River, MA manufacturing facility for the trials.
