Creator of anthrax vaccine struggles to gain attention

LOUISVILLE — Harry Ross has been trying to interest someone in the federal government to spend money on his technology for about three years. He’s getting pretty frustrated.

Ross is acting chief executive of Louisville-based RxKinetix Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that has developed a single-dose anthrax vaccine.

The company has progressed on research paid for by private investors, including Louisville’s Aweida Capital Management, where Ross is a principal. It’s also gotten as far as it can on anthrax research in Colorado, Ross said.

The company is limited to working on the vaccine delivery system because no lab in Colorado can work with live anthrax disease. That has to be done at highly protected military laboratories.

RxKinetix’s results with the vaccine are so good that the Department of Defense (DOD) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) told the company it should apply for funding to study the vaccine with live anthrax disease at a DOD lab.

The DOD and NIH encouragement came prior to Sept. 11, 2001.

?When 9/11 hit, we thought, ?We’re right at the crest of what everybody is interested in and everybody needs,’? Ross said. The currently available anthrax vaccine requires six doses over 18 months and has many problems and significant health risks. ?We thought we had answered all the questions,? Ross said.

After Sept. 11, when the buzz in Washington was that defense money was to be available for homeland security research, RxKinetix applied for funds from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command (USAMRMC). Military immunologists gave RxKinetix high marks for the science, relevancy, technology and applications, Ross said. ?Overall they said it was perfect timing and perfect need, but they told us there were no funds at that time,? Ross said. ?They didn’t think there would be funding for two years.? That was in late 2001.

Since then Ross has peddled his research to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Army’s Joint Vaccine Acquisition Program (JVAP), the DOD and the Pentagon. ?At every single one of them I got fantastic evaluations for relevancy and timeliness as well as technology,? Ross said. ?To the person they all said, ?This is great. We don’t have any money,’ and referred me to the next office.?

During Ross’ most recent trip to Washington last November , the Homeland Security Act was passed along with promises of huge amounts of money for the Department of Homeland Security. When Ross approached the department, he was told the department doesn’t fund anything. ?They act as a clearing house and organizational structure, but they don’t fund any specific projects,? Ross said. ?They told me to go talk to all the places I’d already been to.?

Ross finally turned to Colorado’s legislators and now has Congressman Mark Udall as an ally. ?We’ve had requests from lots of Harry Rosses, and it’s been difficult to figure out where to direct them,? said an aide to Udall. ?It’s not a case of Harry Ross sitting around and waiting for money. There’s general confusion if agencies don’t know what they’ve got or who’s supposed to be doing what. It should be an incredibly easy time because Ross has what everyone is looking for, and a letter from our office can be useful to cut through the bureaucracy and get through to the right person.?

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