BioPort lands $122.7 million contract - Federal program to increase stockpile of anthrax vaccine
Lansing State Journal
Bioport gets contract for vaccine
Under a $122.7 million contract, BioPort Corp. will make and deliver five million doses of anthrax vaccine for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
. The contract was awarded as part of a $5.6 billion federal program, called Project BioShield, to stockpile antidotes to biological and chemical weapons.
. BioPort's contract was the third announced under the program.
Lansing's BioPort Corp. was selected Friday to make five million doses of anthrax vaccine as part of a federal program to stockpile antidotes to biological and chemical weapons.
BioPort had expected the $122.7 million contract to make and deliver the vaccines during the next 18 months, a company spokeswoman said.
With the contract made final, BioPort will begin delivering doses in days, spokeswoman Kim Brennen Root said.
The federal program, called Project BioShield, was signed into law by President Bush in July 2004.
It involves spending $5.6 billion to develop remedies against possible bioweapons.
The contract, announced Friday by the Health and Human Services Department, was the third awarded under the program.
BioPort is the only manufacturer of a Food and Drug Administration-licensed anthrax vaccine.
Stewart Simonson, the agency's assistant secretary for public health emergency preparedness, said the vaccine "will add another important medical countermeasure for anthrax to the Strategic National Stockpile."
Health and Human Services officials would not provide the size of the current stockpile of vaccines, but agency spokesman Marc Wolfson said the contract would "considerably increase the amount of vaccine available in the event that we need to use it."
BioPort has vaccine ready to ship because the five million doses were part of an earlier contract the company had with the Department of Defense, Root said.
That contract, awarded in early 2004, was for up to 10.4 million doses - 5 million of which were intended for Health and Human Services.
But that department decided to do its own contract, she said.
No additional staffing will be needed to fulfill the contract because it was expected, she said.
The Lansing company, at 3500 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., has about 300 employees.
Bioport gets contract for vaccine
Under a $122.7 million contract, BioPort Corp. will make and deliver five million doses of anthrax vaccine for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
. The contract was awarded as part of a $5.6 billion federal program, called Project BioShield, to stockpile antidotes to biological and chemical weapons.
. BioPort's contract was the third announced under the program.
Lansing's BioPort Corp. was selected Friday to make five million doses of anthrax vaccine as part of a federal program to stockpile antidotes to biological and chemical weapons.
BioPort had expected the $122.7 million contract to make and deliver the vaccines during the next 18 months, a company spokeswoman said.
With the contract made final, BioPort will begin delivering doses in days, spokeswoman Kim Brennen Root said.
The federal program, called Project BioShield, was signed into law by President Bush in July 2004.
It involves spending $5.6 billion to develop remedies against possible bioweapons.
The contract, announced Friday by the Health and Human Services Department, was the third awarded under the program.
BioPort is the only manufacturer of a Food and Drug Administration-licensed anthrax vaccine.
Stewart Simonson, the agency's assistant secretary for public health emergency preparedness, said the vaccine "will add another important medical countermeasure for anthrax to the Strategic National Stockpile."
Health and Human Services officials would not provide the size of the current stockpile of vaccines, but agency spokesman Marc Wolfson said the contract would "considerably increase the amount of vaccine available in the event that we need to use it."
BioPort has vaccine ready to ship because the five million doses were part of an earlier contract the company had with the Department of Defense, Root said.
That contract, awarded in early 2004, was for up to 10.4 million doses - 5 million of which were intended for Health and Human Services.
But that department decided to do its own contract, she said.
No additional staffing will be needed to fulfill the contract because it was expected, she said.
The Lansing company, at 3500 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., has about 300 employees.
