Paragon Bioservices secures NIAID contract for preclinical work

18-Jan-2017 - Last updated on 18-Jan-2017 at 15:53 GMT

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A pool of contractors will compete for task orders as part of the NIAID's preclinical drug development services contract to develop therapeutics for a range of global infectious diseases.

The private-equity backed contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) received the multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract to provide product development services for various National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) medical product development activities.

According to Paragon Bioservices, the IDIQ contract allows Paragon to compete within a contractor pool – the company is one of four awardees – for task order awards up to $159m, with a performance period of up to 10 years.

The award covers new therapeutic product development for a range of global infectious diseases. As part of the contract, the company will advance manufacturing processes, analytical test methods, and perform product characterization.

The FedBizOpps notice explained, “The development and introduction of new therapeutic products against potential agents of bioterrorism, drug-resistant pathogens, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, as well as infectious diseases prevalent in resource-limited countries remain a high public health priority.

To assist in filling these public health gaps, the NIAID requires a nontraditional, proactive, and product development-oriented program to provide preclinical product development support for promising biopharmaceutical therapeutic candidates for human infectious diseases or diseases caused byinfectious agents.”

Paragon Bioservices did not respond to a request for comment.