Innova Memphis Inc, an early stage investment fund, announced today that Vaxent, one of its Memphis-based investments, was recognized by the World Vaccine Congress as a finalist for the Best Prophylactic Vaccine of the year award. The finalists are selected based on nominations by peer companies and careful review by the World Vaccine Congress selection committee.

The Vaxent vaccine, StrepNovA, is the leading group A streptococcus vaccine candidate currently in clinical development. Group A streptococcus is the primary cause of pharyngitis or "strep throat" in children, as well as other diseases such as necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating disease) and rheumatic fever. There are 11 million physician office visits for sore throat or suspected strep throat in the U.S. each year, with 15 to 30 percent of those cases confirmed positive for group A streptococcus. The total cost (direct and indirect) of these infections is estimated to be $2 billion annually in the U.S., alone.

"For this start-up company in Memphis to be recognized on the world stage with some of the largest and most respected vaccine companies is a great honor and a testament to the quality of work taking place in Memphis," said Ken Woody, president of Innova. "This kind of recognition enhances the reputation of the quality of science and companies that are developing here. Vaxent represents exactly the kind of potential that Innova is looking to invest in and that the Memphis Bioworks Foundation is supporting through its focus on infrastructure, education and entrepreneurship in the biosciences."

The other finalist vaccines and their manufacturers recognized in the category by the World Vaccine Congress are RotaTeq from Merck, Prevnar from Wyeth, rF1V Plague from DVC LLC, Ixiaro from Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, and Pentacel from Sanofi Pasteur. The winner in the category was Merck's RotaTeq, a vaccine against Rotavirus.

StrepNovA was developed at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center by James B. Dale, MD, the Gene H. Stollerman Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, the Executive Director of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and the Associate Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Dale is the Chief Scientific Officer of Vaxent. His internationally recognized research on the molecular pathogenesis of group A streptococcal diseases and vaccine development is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

About Innova and Memphis Bioworks Foundation

Innova invests in early stage, dynamic companies that have the potential to grow into significant economic contributors. The organization focuses on technology and defensible service companies based in Memphis--including Medical device, Biotechnology, AgBio, Logistics and other bioscience sectors. Innova was created by the Memphis Bioworks Foundation to help establish Memphis as a national center of excellence in entrepreneurship. Innova's goal is to nurture the growth of high technology and entrepreneurial efforts in the Mid-South that will result in significant job creation, economic growth and competitiveness. To learn more about Innova, visit www.innovamemphis.com. To learn more about Memphis Bioworks Foundation, visit www.memphisbioworks.org.

About Vaxent

Vaxent is a Memphis-based early stage vaccine development company using recombinant DNA technology to produce purified proteins as subunit or "non-live" vaccines. The Company's lead product in development is a subunit vaccine against group A streptococcus which has been tested in early stage human clinical trials. Vaxent plans to use its core competency in protein vaccine technology to advance its lead product in clinical testing, as well as develop other new vaccines against infectious diseases.