ABL to fill live virus-based MCMs for BARDA

09-Apr-2017 - Last updated on 10-Apr-2017 at 15:52 GMT

ABL is providing services as part of BARDA's Fill-Finish Manufacturing Network. (Image: iStock/BernardaSv)

ABL, Inc. will provide fill/finish services for live virus-based medical countermeasures (MCM) as part of the five-year contract worth up to $50m.

The global contract research and manufacturing service provider has been awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

As Outsourcing-Pharma.com previously reported, BARDA works with the pharma industry to manufacture medical countermeasures for stockpiling and response through several different initiatives.

According to the company, the contract is part of a multiple award network to provide fill/finish capabilities for live virus-based medical countermeasure (MCM) product development towards licensure.

The work will be carried out at ABL’s GMP facilities in Rockville, MD and Strasbourg, France.

BARDA's Fill & Finish Manufacturing Network was established in response to "lessons learned" from the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic. Since then, the network has become one of BARDA’s core services, which is able to support the organization’s industry partners in filling and finishing MCMs for use in a clinical setting, as well as for distribution in a national emergency.

In August of last year, ABL was also awarded a subcontract by Emergent BioSolutions Inc. for the transfer and GMP production of an inactivated Zika virus vaccine as part of BARDA's Zika vaccine program.