U.S. Inks $120 Million Anthrax Vaccine Deal, Says Delivery to Begin Within Weeks
By Joe Fiorill
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — The United States and its only licensed provider of anthrax vaccine agreed today on a contract for 5 million doses to be administered to civilians in case of a bioterror attack (see related GSN story, today; GSN, April 29).
The Health and Human Services Department awarded the $122.7 million contract to drug maker BioPort after more than four months of negotiations. The deal is part of the Bioshield program to spur availability of WMD countermeasures.
“We are committed to protecting the nation from the consequences of an anthrax attack,” the department’s public health emergency chief, Stewart Simonson, said in a press release. “The BioPort vaccine will add another important medical countermeasure for anthrax to the Strategic National Stockpile.”
Spokesman Marc Wolfson added in a telephone interview that the department expects “within the next couple weeks” to begin receiving the vaccine, which BioPort is already manufacturing.
Health and Human Services announced in November that it planned to buy the vaccine from BioPort. As the intervening months passed, complaints of slowness in reaching a contract agreement began to arise from such critics as Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
Today’s contract is the second for an anthrax vaccine and the third overall awarded under Bioshield, which President George W. Bush signed into law July 21, 2004.
In November 2004, Health and Human Services awarded a contract worth $877.5 million to VaxGen for 75 million doses of a new anthrax vaccine that has yet to be licensed. In March of this year, the department awarded a $5.7 million contract to Fleming & Co. for 1.7 million doses of pediatric liquid potassium iodide for use in warding off potential thyroid problems caused by radiation.
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — The United States and its only licensed provider of anthrax vaccine agreed today on a contract for 5 million doses to be administered to civilians in case of a bioterror attack (see related GSN story, today; GSN, April 29).
The Health and Human Services Department awarded the $122.7 million contract to drug maker BioPort after more than four months of negotiations. The deal is part of the Bioshield program to spur availability of WMD countermeasures.
“We are committed to protecting the nation from the consequences of an anthrax attack,” the department’s public health emergency chief, Stewart Simonson, said in a press release. “The BioPort vaccine will add another important medical countermeasure for anthrax to the Strategic National Stockpile.”
Spokesman Marc Wolfson added in a telephone interview that the department expects “within the next couple weeks” to begin receiving the vaccine, which BioPort is already manufacturing.
Health and Human Services announced in November that it planned to buy the vaccine from BioPort. As the intervening months passed, complaints of slowness in reaching a contract agreement began to arise from such critics as Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
Today’s contract is the second for an anthrax vaccine and the third overall awarded under Bioshield, which President George W. Bush signed into law July 21, 2004.
In November 2004, Health and Human Services awarded a contract worth $877.5 million to VaxGen for 75 million doses of a new anthrax vaccine that has yet to be licensed. In March of this year, the department awarded a $5.7 million contract to Fleming & Co. for 1.7 million doses of pediatric liquid potassium iodide for use in warding off potential thyroid problems caused by radiation.
