Exhibit 99.1

                  VaxGen Appoints Jack Anthony as Director and
                Provides Progress Update on Strategic Transaction

South San Francisco, Calif. - May 22, 2007 - VaxGen Inc. (Pink Sheets: VXGN.PK)
announced today that Jack M. Anthony, a biopharmaceutical executive with more
than 30 years of transaction experience in the industry, has joined the
company's Board of Directors. Mr. Anthony will serve on the Board's special
committee overseeing strategic alternatives for VaxGen.

Mr. Anthony has served in executive roles at a number of biotechnology companies
and has extensive experience in corporate strategy, asset sales, licensing
agreements and corporate collaborations. He has been involved in corporate
transactions totaling more than $3 billion, including, as Senior Vice President
of Business Development and Commercial Development at Tularik, Inc., the sale of
that company in 2004 to Amgen, Inc. for $1.3 billion.

Mr. Anthony is Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Osprey
Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. of Montreal, Canada. He was previously CEO of Pharmix
Corp., a private biotechnology company based in Brisbane, Calif., specializing
in computational chemistry. In addition to Tularik and Osprey, he served in
executive business development positions at Applied Immune Sciences, Inc., Cell
Therapeutics, Inc., Inhale Therapeutic Systems, Inc. (now called Nektar
Therapeutics) and Saegis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Previously, he held a variety of
executive marketing, sales and operational roles at Baxter Healthcare
Corporation.

Mr. Anthony was co-chair of the Biotechnology Industry Association's Business
Development Committee from 2001-2005 and is the founder of the Bay Area Biotech
Business Roundtable, an association of San Francisco area business development
executives.

"I believe Jack is the right person at the right time for VaxGen's Board," said
Randall L-W Caudill, VaxGen's Chairman. "We expect that his extensive
transaction experience and knowledge of the biotechnology industry will provide
additional insight into the company's already advanced evaluation and pursuit of
a full array of strategic alternatives."

VaxGen's Board of Directors continues to seek an additional independent director
to evaluate strategic alternatives and to replace Eve Slater, who is required to
resign as a VaxGen director no later than August 1, 2007 after accepting a
senior managerial role at Pfizer.

      Strategic Transaction Update

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VaxGen announced on January 5, 2007 that it was restructuring and exploring
strategic alternatives following the U.S. government's cancellation of the
company's anthrax vaccine contract on December 19, 2006. The restructuring
included the layoff of more than half of VaxGen's employees.

Since then, VaxGen, with input from its advisers at Lazard, has undertaken what
it believes is an extensive and diligent analysis of the relative merits of
different options, including asset sales, liquidation and a wide variety of
corporate transactions.

"We have significantly narrowed the field of potential transactions and remain
confident that we can conclude a transaction that will deliver value to our
shareholders," said Caudill, who serves on the Board's special committee.

In parallel with evaluating potential corporate transactions, the company
continues to explore the possibility of independently selling its South San
Francisco manufacturing facility.

"Our current staff preserves the value of our manufacturing facility and our
ability to sell or partner it, as well as supporting activities related to our
potential corporate transactions," said James P. Panek, VaxGen's President and
CEO. "We pay close attention to the balance between the costs and benefits of
preserving these options, and we will not hesitate to further reduce costs in a
prudent manner."

VaxGen is a biopharmaceutical company based in South San Francisco, California.
For more information, please visit the company's web site at www.vaxgen.com.

Note: This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements
include, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's ability to
attract and successfully recruit additional members to the company's board of
directors; the results of Mr. Anthony's participation as a member of the
company's board of directors; the Company's ability to consummate, and the
timing of, a strategic transaction that provides value to stockholders; and the
timing of VaxGen becoming current in its periodic reporting requirements.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements that speak only as of the date of this release. VaxGen undertakes no
obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new
information, events, or circumstances after the date of this release except as
required by law.

Contact:
Lance Ignon
Vice President, Corporate Affairs
(650) 624-1016

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