PharmAthene battles for anthrax vaccine bucks

The contract is for the manufacture of 25m doses of a second generation recombinant protective antigen (rPA) anthrax vaccine and is part of the governments $5.6bn Project BioShield.

This was set up in 2004 to create a stockpile of drugs that would be used in the event of a bioterrorist attack on the US.

PharmAthene believes SparVax, which it acquired in March from Avecia, is a suitable candidate for the contract. SparVax is made up of an rPA adsorbed onto Alhydrogel and packaged as a liquid filled syringe for intramuscular injection.

The product has completed Phase II trials and has now been tested on 750 healthy human subjects, demonstrating that it appears to be well tolerated and illicit an immune response.

An announcement regarding who has won the contract is expected to be made by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) before the end of the year.

PharmAthene’s interest in the project was highlighted following its receipt of a multi-year contract worth up to $83.9m for advanced development of a third generation rPA anthrax vaccine.

An initial $13.2m is being paid to PharmAthene by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is part of part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Additional payments will be made upon completion of developmental milestones. In addition the government has the option to extend the contract to include the manufacture and clinical development of the vaccine.

Currently BioThrax is the only licensed anthrax vaccine and this requires storage between 35 and 46ºF and needs multiple doses to be effective.

Consequently the US government is seeking alternatives and has allocated funding to develop a vaccine that can be stored for three years at up to 95ºF and only requires one or two doses to confer immunity.

Speaking after receiving the funding, David Wright, CEO at PharmAthene, said: "We are pleased that NIAID has awarded such a significant contract to fund the continued development of our third generation rPA anthrax vaccine program. This latest contract is in addition to an earlier NIH contract for up to $6.9m, which was awarded in 2005​.”