Emergent BioSolutions, HHS infectious news

Emergent signed a two-year contract with HHS’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to deliver BioThrax to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). The contract is valued at $100 million. BioThrax is approved for pre- or post-exposure prophylaxis of anthrax disease. The anthrax vaccine contains cell-free filtrates of microaerophilic cultures of an avirulent, non-encapsulated strain of Bacillus anthracis.

Emergent said the BARDA contract is separate from, and in addition to, a $911 million contract signed last December with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, Ga.) to supply BioThrax to the SNS (see BioCentury, Jan 6)...