Acambis gets smallpox contract

HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson announced on Wednesday that Acambis Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Acambis (LSE:ACM; ACAM), with support from subcontractor Baxter (BAX), has been awarded a $428 million contract from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to produce 155 million doses of smallpox vaccine by the end of 2002. Vaccine production could start as soon as December, according to HHS. Bulk vaccine, which is based on a purified strain of vaccinia virus grown in live tissue culture, will be produced by BAX at a facility in Europe and shipped to the U.S. for processing and refinement. ACM expects to start clinical trials of the vaccine in early 2002, and plans to seek FDA approval in mid-2003. ...