Biovest International, Inc. (OTCBB:BVTI), a majority-owned subsidiary of Accentia Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABPI), today announced that Biovest has been designated one of the charter members of the Joint U.S.–Norway Cancer Research Program, a collaboration among leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and research organizations with the vision of transforming world-class cancer diagnostics and treatments to improve and extend the lives of cancer patients.

The Joint U.S.-Norway Cancer Research Program will focus its efforts and pursue cancer research with both the National Cancer Institute and the U.S. military healthcare system. It has been reported that medical research officials at the Defense Department believe the U.S.-Norway cancer research collaboration can leverage the current efforts of the U.S. Navy Cancer Vaccine Program, based at the U.S. Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, CA. The Center was established to develop and deliver operational biomedical research solutions and to create vaccines and other cancer related therapies for various types of cancer including breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and colon cancer.

Biovest was cited for its current efforts to commercialize BiovaxID®, a personalized biologic therapeutic cancer vaccine now completing Phase 3 clinical trials to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and as the developer and manufacturer of AutovaxID™, its patented technology enabling cancer vaccines to be developed much more rapidly and cost-effectively than current systems.

Commenting on Biovest’s role, Chairman and CEO, Dr. Steven Arikian, stated, “We are extremely proud to be one of the original members of this prestigious alliance of innovators in the field of cancer research. As we are advancing BiovaxID to potentially become the first ever anti-cancer vaccine approved in the U.S. and/or Europe, we expect to be a key contributor based on our level of expertise in the field of cancer vaccine immunotherapy. Additionally, we are highly proficient in the cost-efficient, commercial-scale manufacture of such personalized vaccines through the use of our proprietary biomanufacturing system, AutovaxID, which we envision will be utilized to produce many kinds of drugs and vaccines targeting many types of cancers.”

Participants in the joint program are working with the staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and with the Delta Regional Authority, an independent federal agency, to arrange scientific presentations by U.S.