OraVax Inc., which filed a silent initial public offering last week,signed a deal Tuesday with Pasteur Merieux Serums & Vaccins S.A.establishing a joint venture to develop and market vaccines to preventand treat Helicobacter pylori bacteria infections.

OraVax, of Cambridge, Mass., started Phase I trials of a H. pylorivaccine in January. Pasteur Merieux, part of the Cedex, France-basedRhone-Poulenc Group, paid a license fee and bought $2.5 million ofequity in OraVax.

Pasteur Merieux also agreed to make milestone payments and toshare equally research, development and clinical costs.

"The deal is larger than that," Lance Gordon, president and CEO ofOraVax, told BioWorld. "Those are the terms we could report. Thisis a multi-year deal in which the important aspects, though they're notin dollar signs, involve the joint venture. They've agreed to share theprofits on the product we're developing 50-50."

The partners will continue development of OraVax's H. pylorivaccines, which primarily are oral formulations that use the ureaseantigen. OraVax's products are designed to stimulate the mucosalimmune system by mobilizing antibody and cell-mediated immunity.

The H. pylori program is OraVax's largest, but its most advancedprogram is in respiratory syncytial virus, which is in Phase II trials.

The initial public offering was for the sale of up to 2.6 million sharesof common stock. Underwriters were Lufkin & Jenrette SecuritiesCorp. and Cowen & Co., both based in New York. _ Jim Shrine

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