Two firms win smallpox contracts
Associated Press
Two vaccine companies won government contracts totalling more than $US200 million ($A275 million) to produce a possibly safer smallpox inoculation.
Acambis Inc. of Cambridge, Massachussetts, and Denmark's Bavarian Nordic A/S are researching a smallpox vaccine that would be made with a modified version of the virus in today's shots.
Today, the only smallpox vaccine available isn't safe for people with weakened immune systems, and can even seriously harm some healthy people, because it's made with a live virus called vaccinia that can spread through the body. The modified strain under development doesn't replicate inside cells, and therefore shouldn't pose such a risk.
The two companies already had US funding to begin the work. The additional contracts call for each to produce up to 500,000 doses and perform crucial human safety tests, said Gerald Kovacs of the National Institutes of Health. If the initial work pans out, the contracts allow the government to order another 2.5 million doses from each supplier.
Two vaccine companies won government contracts totalling more than $US200 million ($A275 million) to produce a possibly safer smallpox inoculation.
Acambis Inc. of Cambridge, Massachussetts, and Denmark's Bavarian Nordic A/S are researching a smallpox vaccine that would be made with a modified version of the virus in today's shots.
Today, the only smallpox vaccine available isn't safe for people with weakened immune systems, and can even seriously harm some healthy people, because it's made with a live virus called vaccinia that can spread through the body. The modified strain under development doesn't replicate inside cells, and therefore shouldn't pose such a risk.
The two companies already had US funding to begin the work. The additional contracts call for each to produce up to 500,000 doses and perform crucial human safety tests, said Gerald Kovacs of the National Institutes of Health. If the initial work pans out, the contracts allow the government to order another 2.5 million doses from each supplier.
