Emergent BioSolutions angles for new anthrax vaccine deal

Friday, May 9, 2008

Emergent BioSolutions angles for new anthrax vaccine deal

Rockville company pays $2M-plus for rival’s candidate

| by Gazette Staff

E-mail this article \ Print this article

Emergent BioSolutions this week reported solid earnings and acquired a new, developmental type of anthrax vaccine to complement its own version that it already sells to the federal government.

The Rockville company this week reported a first-quarter profit of $7.0 million, versus a net loss of $2.7 million a year ago. Revenues grew to $42.7 million from $26.4 million, mostly from higher sales of its lead product, BioThrax.

Emergent has a $448 million contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to supply 18.75 million doses of its BioThrax vaccine — the only one approved by the Food and Drug Administration — for the Strategic National Stockpile of biodefense measures. It has been administered to almost 2 million members of the U.S. military, according to company information.

The new vaccine, based on a recombinant protective antigen, was purchased for $2 million from a competitor, VaxGen Inc. of San Francisco. The deal also includes $8 million in certain milestone payments to VaxGen, plus a percentage of sales.

In 2006, the federal government voided an $877.5 million contract for VaxGen’s vaccine candidate after it failed to meet government guidelines at a mid-clinical trial stage. The problems were related to the vaccine’s stability.

However, its stability has improved, Emergent said in a statement, making it ‘‘well positioned to be a leading candidate” for a recent federal request for proposals to supply 25 million anthrax vaccine doses. Contracts are expected to be awarded late this year.

The vaccine candidate acquired from VaxGen would involve fewer injections than BioThrax, which requires up to six injections over an 18-month period to confer immunity.

‘‘We are pleased to provide the U.S. government with the important option to select an advanced rPA anthrax vaccine candidate from a domestic manufacturer,” said Fuad El-Hibri, Emergent’s chairman and CEO. As the premier domestic biodefense supplier, ‘‘this was a natural fit for us.”

Emergent is the second Maryland company to recently acquire a candidate to win the new federal anthrax vaccine contract. This spring, PharmAthene of Annapolis said it would pay up to $40 million for the vaccines unit of Avecia Biologics of the United Kingdom, as it focuses on both anthrax and plague prevention.

Emergent plans to manufacture its new vaccine at its new plant in Lansing, Mich., where it produces BioThrax.