Aeolus, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services other news

HHS's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) extended the base period of a 2011 contract with Aeolus to develop AEOL 10150 to treat radiation-induced pulmonary injury to Sept. 30 from Feb. 10 of this year at no cost to the company. The extension accommodates 12 additional items that Aeolus added to the base period, including additional mechanism of action and dose-escalation studies in mice, additional process development and expansion of a non-human primate radiation study. Financial terms of the contract, which remain unchanged, comprise an initial base period value of $10.4 million and an additional $107.5 million in options for BARDA to extend the contract an additional four years. Aeolus said that through the end of January, it had completed or billed about $7.9 million of work in the base period and expects to bill the full $10.4 million (see BioCentury, Feb. 11, 2011).

Earlier this month, Aeolus presented its progress and requested that BARDA exercise options to extend the contract to March 2013 to cover key items required for advanced development of AEOL 10105, including a Phase I trial in healthy volunteers. The company said that if exercised, it could begin the Phase I trial this summer. The catalytic manganoporphyrin antioxidant has also completed two Phase I trials to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). ...