GeoVax Highlights Strategic Alignment of GEO-MVA With HHS/ASPR’s Five-Year Medical Countermeasure Preparedness Strategy

ASPR Report Reinforces National Priorities for Domestic Manufacturing, Platform Technologies, Strategic National Stockpile Modernization, and Pandemic Preparedness

ATLANTA, GA – July 21, 2026 (NEWMEDIAWIRE) – GeoVax Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOVX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines and immunotherapies, today highlighted the strong alignment between its GEO-MVA vaccine platform strategy and the priorities outlined in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response’s (ASPR) newly released Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasure Enterprise (PHEMCE) Multiyear Budget: Fiscal Years 2025–2029.

The report provides the federal government’s five-year roadmap for investments in medical countermeasures, advanced manufacturing, Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) modernization, and preparedness against emerging infectious disease and biological threats.

According to the report, approximately 65% of future medical countermeasure investment is expected to focus on threat-agnostic and multi-threat technologies, while emphasizing domestic manufacturing capability, scalable vaccine platforms, and sustained preparedness infrastructure. The report also projects a total five-year medical countermeasure investment need of approximately $66.9 billion, underscoring the growing strategic importance of resilient domestic biodefense capabilities.

“The release of ASPR’s five-year preparedness strategy reinforces many of the strategic priorities that have guided our GEO-MVA program,” said David A. Dodd, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GeoVax. “The report recognizes that future preparedness requires more than individual vaccines – it requires flexible platform technologies, domestic manufacturing capability, resilient supply chains, and sustainable medical countermeasure infrastructure. GEO-MVA has been developed with these national priorities in mind.”

ASPR Priorities Closely Align with the GEO-MVA Strategy

GeoVax believes several priorities identified in the ASPR strategy directly support the long-term strategic rationale underlying the GEO-MVA program.

Domestic Manufacturing

The ASPR report identifies sustaining and expanding domestic commercial manufacturing capability as one of the nation’s principal preparedness challenges.

GeoVax’s GEO-MVA program is designed to establish a U.S.-based source of Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccine manufacturing, supporting domestic supply-chain resilience while reducing dependence on limited global manufacturing capacity.

Platform Technologies

The report emphasizes investments in threat-agnostic and multi-threat technologies capable of responding rapidly to future public health emergencies.

The MVA vector represents a well-established vaccine platform with demonstrated applicability across multiple infectious disease targets, providing flexibility beyond any single indication.

Strategic National Stockpile

The ASPR strategy calls for continued modernization of the Strategic National Stockpile while addressing lifecycle management, replenishment, and transition of new medical countermeasures into long-term preparedness programs.

GeoVax believes the GEO-MVA program aligns with these objectives by supporting future U.S. preparedness capacity for orthopoxvirus threats.

Emerging Infectious Diseases

The report identifies emerging infectious diseases as among the nation’s highest preparedness priorities while emphasizing investments that enable rapid response to evolving threats.

GeoVax’s clinical development strategy for GEO-MVA is intended to support preparedness against mpox and smallpox while leveraging the broader capabilities of the MVA platform.

Independent Validation of Long-Term Preparedness Trends

The ASPR report reflects a continuing evolution in federal preparedness strategy – from investing primarily in individual products toward investing in strategic capabilities, including manufacturing infrastructure, platform technologies, and sustainable preparedness systems.

GeoVax believes these evolving priorities reinforce the long-term strategic value of domestic vaccine manufacturing capabilities that can support future public health emergency response.

“Preparedness is increasingly being viewed as a strategic national capability rather than simply a collection of products,” added Mr. Dodd. “We believe this evolution supports the importance of maintaining flexible vaccine platforms and domestic manufacturing infrastructure capable of responding to future biological threats.”

About GEO-MVA

GEO-MVA is GeoVax’s Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccine candidate being developed to support protection against mpox and smallpox. The program is advancing through an immunobridging regulatory strategy following positive Scientific Advice from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and is intended to provide an additional source of MVA vaccine manufacturing capacity supporting future public health preparedness initiatives.

About GeoVax

GeoVax Labs, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of vaccines and immunotherapies addressing high-consequence infectious diseases and solid tumor cancers. GeoVax’s priority program is GEO-MVA, a Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA)–based vaccine targeting mpox and smallpox. The program is advancing under an expedited regulatory pathway, with plans to initiate a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in the second half of 2026, to address critical global needs for expanded orthopoxvirus vaccine supply and biodefense preparedness. In oncology, GeoVax is developing Gedeptin®, a gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT) designed to enhance immune checkpoint inhibitor activity. Gedeptin has completed a multicenter Phase 1/2 clinical trial in advanced head and neck cancer and is being advanced into combination strategies, including planned neoadjuvant and first-line settings. GeoVax maintains a global intellectual property portfolio supporting its infectious disease and oncology programs and continues to evaluate strategic partnerships and funding opportunities aligned with its development priorities. For more information, visit www.geovax.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements regarding GeoVax’s business plans. The words “believe,” “look forward to,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,” “potential,” “is likely,” “will,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Actual results may differ materially from those included in these statements due to a variety of factors, including whether: GeoVax is able to obtain acceptable results from ongoing or future clinical trials of its investigational products, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines can provoke the desired responses, and those products or vaccines can be used effectively, GeoVax’s viral vector technology adequately amplifies immune responses to cancer antigens, GeoVax can develop and manufacture its immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines with the desired characteristics in a timely manner, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines will be safe for human use, GeoVax’s vaccines will effectively prevent targeted infections in humans, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines will receive regulatory approvals necessary to be licensed and marketed, GeoVax raises required capital to complete development, there is development of competitive products that may be more effective or easier to use than GeoVax’s products, GeoVax will be able to enter into favorable manufacturing and distribution agreements, and other factors, over which GeoVax has no control.

Further information on our risk factors is contained in our periodic reports on Form 10-Q and Form 10-K that we have filed and will file with the SEC. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law. 

Company Contact:
info@geovax.com
678-384-7220

Media Contact:
Jessica Starman
media@geovax.com 

News Source: GeoVax, Inc.