San Diego-based MabVax Therapeutics Inc., a small private biotechnology company developing vaccine-based treatments for cancer, has been awarded $1.75 million from the National Institutes of Health.

The NIH grant is part of its Small Business Innovation Research Technology Program, and will help fund the company’s pancreatic cancer treatment.

The company, founded in March 2008, has raised $12 million in venture funding and $6 million in NIH funding to date, said CEO David Hansen.

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