GeoVax Observes HIV Vaccine Awareness Day and Prepares for Next Human Clinical Trial of GOVX-B11

ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwired - May 18, 2016) - GeoVax Labs, Inc. (OTCQB: GOVX) announced today its observance of HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, which occurs annually on May 18^th. This observance provides an opportunity to recognize and thank the many volunteers, community members, health professionals, and scientists who are working together to find a safe and effective preventive HIV vaccine. It is also a day to educate communities across the nation about the importance of preventive HIV vaccine research and development.

In the United States, there are approximately 1.2 million people living with HIV, and another 50,000 are infected each year. An estimated 26% of all new HIV cases occur in young people aged 13-24 years, with recent statistics showing diagnosis rates increasing 10.5% per year in this age group. Within this group, minorities are also disproportionally affected; nearly 60% of new infections occur in African-Americans and 20% in Hispanics/Latinos. Worldwide, AIDS has killed nearly 39 million people since the epidemic began, and an estimated 37 million people are currently living with HIV infection. Despite improved access to antiretroviral treatment in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claims an estimated 2 million lives each year. HIV infection rates in the U.S. have remained virtually unchanged for more than 20 years. These statistics point very clearly to the need for an effective preventive HIV vaccine.

Development of a preventive HIV vaccine has been GeoVax's primary mission since its founding in 2001. Under the leadership of our founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Harriet Robinson, GeoVax's team of dedicated scientists and support staff has developed the leading HIV vaccine candidate designed to prevent infection from the subtype of HIV prevalent in North America and Western Europe. Our vaccine, GOVX-B11, has undergone more than 20 years of development, encompassing basic discovery research, preclinical animal testing, and safety testing in humans.

Our vaccine would not exist, however, without the financial and technical support we have received from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and from the NIH-supported HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN). In addition to multiple grants from NIAID supporting our ongoing vaccine research, all of the human clinical trials of our vaccine have been conducted by the HVTN with funding from NIAID. Overall, GeoVax's HIV vaccines, in various doses and combinations, have been tested in 500 humans with very encouraging results.

The next human clinical trial of GOVX-B11 is expected to begin in mid-2016. The trial, designated HVTN 114, will investigate the effect of a late protein boost for vaccinated individuals who participated in the HVTN 205 Phase 2a trial. Protein boosts may augment protective antibody responses that can block virus infections and/or kill infected cells through antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). The one partially successful HIV vaccine trial in Thailand (the RV144 trial) included a protein boost and the HVTN has requested that such a boost be tested for the GeoVax DNA/MVA vaccine regimen.

About GeoVax
GeoVax Labs, Inc., is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing human vaccines against infectious diseases using its MVA-VLP vaccine platform. The Company's development programs are focused on vaccines against HIV, Zika Virus, and hemorrhagic fever viruses (Ebola, Sudan, Marburg, Lassa). GeoVax also recently began a program to evaluate the use of its MVA-VLP platform in cancer immunotherapy. GeoVax's vaccine platform supports in vivo production of non-infectious VLPs from the cells of the very person receiving the vaccine. The production of VLPs in the person being vaccinated mimics a natural infection, stimulating both the humoral and cellular arms of the immune system to recognize, prevent, and control the target infection. For more information, visit www.geovax.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this document are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from those included in these statements due to a variety of factors, including whether: GeoVax can develop and manufacture its vaccines with the desired characteristics in a timely manner, GeoVax's vaccines will be safe for human use, GeoVax's vaccines will effectively prevent targeted infections in humans, GeoVax's vaccines will receive regulatory approvals necessary to be licensed and marketed, GeoVax raises required capital to complete vaccine 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. GeoVax assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, and does not intend to do so. More information about these factors is contained in GeoVax's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including those set forth at "Risk Factors" in GeoVax's Form 10-K.