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The U.S. Health and Human Services Department announced yesterday that it has awarded a $448 million contract for production of 18.75 million doses of anthrax vaccine, the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy said (see GSN, Aug. 20).The vaccine is expected to be produced over three years and incorporated into the Strategic National Stockpile of civilian drugs and medical supplies.The department has also agreed to pay bonuses to manufacturer Emergent BioSolutions if the Maryland firm wins regulatory approval to extend the vaccine’s shelf life from three to four years, and if it moves toward having the vaccine approved for treating people already exposed to anthrax.“Today's acquisition, in addition to the current stockpile of anthrax vaccine, will allow [the Health and Human Services Department] to maintain a stockpile of at least 10 million doses of anthrax vaccine through 2011. In addition, [the department] has two current contracts for the acquisition of anthrax antitoxins, to treat individuals with advanced anthrax disease,” Health and Human Services said in a statement.The contract also provides $2.2 million to cover the expense of shipping the vaccine doses to the national stockpile overseen by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy release, Sept. 26).Meanwhile, the United States has issued a contract of up to $13.9 million to two biopharmaceutical firms for ongoing development of an anthrax treatment, the Associated Press reported yesterday.Development of Valortim, a drug for prevention and treatment of anthrax infection, has received a total of more than $24 million in federal funding. Medarex Inc. of New Jersey and PharmAthene Inc. of Maryland are collaborating on the drug (Associated Press/Boston Globe, Sept. 26).As in the days of Noah....
