Sanofi's Imogam Rabies-HT vaccine is made from human plasma and is given immediately to people exposed to the rabies virus - an acute viral disease that attacks the body's central nervous system and is almost always fatal unless treated.
Although rabies among humans is rare in the US, 40,000 people who are bitten by suspected rabid animals receive a post-exposure prevention treatment each year.
Under the new arrangement - set to begin in the second half of 2006 - Nabi will fractionate human plasma containing antibodies to the rabies virus at its Boca Raton, Florida, manufacturing plant and ship the partially manufactured product to Sanofi Pasteur for completion of production at its manufacturing facility in Lyon, France.
Sanofi has been manufacturing the vaccine until now, however, Nabi has been collecting the majority of the human plasma used for the vaccine's production at it's antibody collection centres in the US.
Sanofi decided to outsource the fractionation procedure to Nabi to "streamline the production process and provide a seamless process from plasma collection to processing, resulting in improved production and shipping efficiency."
The deal allows Nabi to use spare capacity in its Boca Raton manufacturing facility and also expands the firm's contract manufacturing business, which it relies on to subsidise the development of its own products in the unmet medical need areas of gram-positive bacterial infections, hepatitis and transplant, kidney disease and nicotine addiction.