Emergent BioSolutions, a biopharmaceutical company based in Gaithersburg and a wholly owned subsidiary of BioPort Corp., has announced that the Department of Health and Human Services has modified its contract with the company and is purchasing an additional 5 million doses of Bio Thrax valued at $120 million.
Bio Thrax is the only FDA-licensed anthrax vaccine, and the additional doses will go to the nation?s Strategic National Stockpile.
“We are proud to play a vital role in the strategic defense of the United States and the protection of its citizens in the event of another anthrax attack,” Fuad El-Hibri, the company?s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
The purchase of the additional vaccine doses is a modification of the company?s first contract, which was executed in 2005. The company completed deliveries of an initial 5 million doses in February 2006, eight months ahead of schedule. Fulfillment of the latest procurement will result in a combined total delivery of 10 million doses of Bio Thrax to the Strategic National Stockpile.
The purchase is funded under Project BioShield, a program geared to accelerate the development, purchase and availability of medical countermeasures for biological, chemical, radiological and nuclear threats.
“We are committed to protecting the nation from the consequences of an anthrax attack,” said Stewart Simonson, assistant secretary for public health emergency preparedness at the Department of Health and Human Services.
“The additional ? vaccine will further strengthen and expand the Strategic National Stockpile?s medical countermeasures for anthrax.”
President George W. Bush introduced BioShield in his 2003 State of the Union address. Congress passed the Project BioShield Act of 2004, with the president signing the act into law in July of that year.
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness, which oversees the research and procurement efforts under the BioShield program through its office of Research and Development Coordination, will continue to manage the anthrax vaccine contract.
