Emergent BioSolutions Inc. said the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority exercised a $261 million option to purchase its AV7909 anthrax vaccine.
The option was part of the 2016 development and procurement contract, valued at up to $1.5 billion, between Emergent BioSolutions and BARDA, a division within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The procured doses will be delivered to the Strategic National Stockpile, or SNS, within a 12-month period.
The contract includes a five-year base period of performance to develop the vaccine and to deliver to the SNS an initial 3 million doses, with options to procure up to an additional 50 million doses.
AV7909 is a vaccine being developed for the preventative treatment of anthrax resulting from suspected or confirmed exposure to the bacterium that causes the infection, in conjunction with the recommended course of antimicrobial therapy.
Gaithersburg, Md.-based Emergent BioSolutions is evaluating AV7909 in a late-stage trial expected to be completed in late 2020.
