Crucell wins $70M to develop new vaccines

Crucell has nailed a $70 million contract from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop new vaccines to combat the Ebola and Marburg viruses. That contract will be worth $30 million initially with another $40 million in options.

"We are grateful to the NIAID/NIH for this award, which makes use of Crucell's proprietary AdVac technology," said Dr. Jaap Goudsmit, Crucell's CSO. "This award recognizes the scientific basis for using rare adenovirus serotypes to develop vaccines. The contract builds upon earlier work Crucell has performed with the Vaccine Research Center at NIH, and brings us a step closer to being able to provide effective countermeasures against a highly lethal infectious disease."

Crucell will be the primary contractor with additional services being supplied by the San Antonio-based Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research Quintiles Guys Drug Research Unit in London.

- check out the Crucell release