Acambis expects US vaccine license

Source: Healthcare Exec

Date :23/11/2007 10:57:05

Acambis, the UK vaccines manufacturer, said yesterday that it hopes to secure an agreement with the U.S. government to supply smallpox vaccines by early next year.

"We feel the likelihood of getting a contract is very high," said CEO Ian Garland in an interview. The company had previously expected the deal to be finalised by the end of this year for the smallpox drug, ACAM2000.

However, in the trading update Acambis said new US Government orders totaling $15 million were secured under an existing US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention contract, the equivalent of $3 a dose.

Ian Garland, CEO of Acambis, said:

"At the end of September, we laid out how we plan to develop Acambis into a robust, independent vaccines company.

"We have already successfully delivered on an important near-term goal by partnering our ChimeriVax™-West Nile vaccine programme with one of the world's leading vaccine companies, Sanofi Pasteur.

"We have also received new orders under the existing ACAM2000™ smallpox vaccine CDC contract and discussions on the long-term US warm-base manufacturing contract have advanced to the later stages of the process."