The vibration of hair cells in the inner ear, when stimulated by sound, is crucial to normal hearing. The data suggest a possible new therapeutic approach to hearing loss may be found through delivery of certain developmental genes for hair cell regrowth in the inner ear.

Douglas E. Brough, Ph.D., GenVec's director of vector sciences, commented, "We are encouraged by the promising results of this research, which may facilitate the treatment of diminished hearing caused by hair cell loss in the inner ear because of aging or trauma."

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, hearing loss is one of the most common conditions affecting older adults. One in three people older than 60 and half of those older than 85 have hearing loss. Most deafness occurs because the hair cells of the inner ear are damaged by disease, injury or aging.

GenVec is a biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for cancer, heart disease, vision loss, and vaccines for infectious diseases. The approach described in this release, Atoh1 (MATH1) gene therapy, has not been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration. Additional information on GenVec is available at http://www.genvec.com and in GenVec's various filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Statements herein relating to future financial or business performance, conditions or strategies and other financial and business matters, including expectations regarding future studies and programs, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. GenVec cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the statements herein include risks relating to the early stage of product candidates under development; GenVec's ability to secure and maintain relationships with collaborators; uncertainties with, and unexpected results and related analyses relating to, clinical trials of GenVec's product candidates; the growth of revenues attributable to GenVec's vaccine program; the timing and content of future U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulatory actions with respect to GenVec, its product candidates, or its collaborators; dependence on the efforts of third parties; dependence on intellectual property; risks that GenVec may lack the financial resources and access to capital to fund its operations; and risks relating to the commercialization, if any, of GenVec's product candidates (such as marketing, regulatory, patent, product liability, supply, competition and other risks). Further information on the factors and risks that could affect GenVec's business, financial conditions and results of operations is contained in GenVec's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which are available at http://www.sec.gov. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and GenVec assumes no duty to update forward-looking statements.

From GenVec