Emergent BioSolutions

Emergent wins $24M anthrax contract

John Carroll — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:50:43 -0400

Emergent BioSolutions has won a $24.3 million contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a new therapy for people exposed to anthrax. The biotech also makes the anthrax vaccine BioThrax. Emergent release

Protein Sciences, Emergent wage war of words

John Carroll — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:25:07 -0400

Protein Sciences says it's terminated a $78 million deal to sell the company to Emergent BioSolutions, two weeks after the two developers launched into a messy public brawl over the merger. Emergent filed suit against Protein Sciences, claiming that the company had breached the buyout pact and had never really intended to go through with the deal. Protein Sciences fired back with its own claims of a breach. Emergent says Protein Sciences can't terminate the deal. Protein Sciences says that Emergent is now trying to subvert the company.

"Emergent's blatant disregard for its contractual commitments is shocking," said Daniel Adams, president and chief executive, in a statement. "They continue to try to damage PSC with inappropriate and unauthorized contact to our customers and collaborators and appear to have launched an effort to disrupt the approval process...for FluBlok," which is up for regulatory approval.

- here's the release on the move
- read the story from the Washington Business Journal

Oxford-Emergent venture gains $16M for TB vaccine trial

John Carroll — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:01:26 -0400

The University of Oxford and Emergent BioSolutions have formed a joint venture--The Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium--to further develop MVA85A, an experimental vaccine for the prevention of tuberculosis. The Consortium, which obtained an exclusive license from the university to develop the therapy, has secured about $16 million from The Wellcome Trust and the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation to fund a Phase IIb trial.

"I am excited by the prospect of further development of this promising vaccine candidate," said Helen McShane, a Wellcome Trust senior clinical research fellow at Oxford University and original developer of the TB vaccine. "We at Oxford have selected Emergent BioSolutions as our commercial partner given their vaccine development experience and dedication to bringing lifesaving vaccines to market."

- check out this release
- read the report from the Washington Business Journal

Emergent accuses biotech execs of wrecking pact

John Carroll — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:55:55 -0400

Rockville, MD-based Emergent BioSolutions has filed suit against Protein Sciences, saying the vaccine developer never planned to follow through on a planned $75 million acquisition agreement. According to Emergent's claim, the top executives of Protein Sciences ridiculed the deal after it was announced and only really wanted $10 million in bridge financing that came with the pact so it could pursue other options. Protein Sciences' Daniel D. Adams and Manon M.J. Cox were singled out in the lawsuit.

- read the report in FierceVaccines
- here's the Washington Post article

Emergent adds new space for biotech start-ups

John Carroll — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:24:42 -0400

Emergent Technologies (ETI) has doubled its office space, taking new digs in Austin that includes new laboratory space for the biotech companies that it helps foster. ETI specializes in creating new companies that are engaged in commercializing research pioneered at regional universities.

Thomas Harlan, president and CEO of ETI, told the Austin Business Journal that the company had just run out of room. ETI moved from 12,000 square feet into 23,000 square feet of space. ETI closed a $27 million fund in the spring of 2007 and used the money to launch three companies: Mimetic Solutions, Beacon Sciences and AeonClad Coatings.

"The biotech sector is a limitless one," Harlan told the newspaper. "We're delighted to be sitting in a region where there's abundant deal flow, in terms of the science coming from the university."

- read the report in the Austin Business Journal

Emergent BioSolutions buys flu vaccine maker

Tue, 27 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Emergent BioSolutions has inked a deal to acquire the Protein Sciences Corporation assets for up to $75 million. The move is part of Emergent's strategy to expand its product portfolio with a drug candidate focused on infectious disease. Currently, most of Emergent's business comes from government contracts for biodefense. Emergent will acquire PSC's ongoing operations, including FluBlok, a Phase III recombinant influenza vaccine candidate, and certain other assets. "The acquisition of FluBlok is consistent with Emergent's strategy of expanding its product portfolio with a vaccine candidate focused on a major infectious disease," said Fuad El-Hibri, Emergent's CEO. The company recently bought rival VaxGen's anthrax vaccine business.

- check out Emergent's release
- read the Washington Post article

Struggling VaxGen sells anthrax vaccine to rival

Mon, 05 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

After spending $175 million in an unsuccessful effort to push a new anthrax vaccine into the clinic, VaxGen has sold the program to Emergent BioSolutions for $2 million. VaxGen also stands to earn $8 million in milestones and an unspecified portion of any sales. Emergent, once VaxGen's bitter rival, believes the problems with the vaccine candidate have been sorted out and is a prime contender for a new government contract. VaxGen's vaccine program is also further advanced than any of the experimental vaccine programs Emergent is advancing.

The Washington Post points out that Emergent's competitive position shifted significantly after PharmAthene bought the rights to a next-gen anthrax vaccine developed by Avecia, making it a contender for a government contract to supply 25 million doses.

The deal for just pennies on its research dollar marks another bitter turn for VaxGen, which is now being operated by a skeleton crew in the wake of a failed merger. Last month VaxGen axed 75 percent of its remaining 22 workers.

- here's VaxGen's release on the deal
- read the article in the Washington Post

ALSO NOTED: Minnesota hands out research cash; BMS, Lundbeck execs jump ship; and much more...

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:59:50 -0500

> The Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics is handing out $6 million to seven teams that will research heart disease, mesothelioma, infection prevention and epilepsy. Report

> Avanir Pharmaceuticals has sold its portfolio of human monoclonal anthrax antibodies to Emergent BioSolutions for up to $1.75 million in upfront and milestone payments, as well as royalties on annual net sales if the product is commercialized. Release

> Chutes & Ladders: Danish drug maker Lundbeck lost its CEO Claus Braestrup yesterday when he announced he would resign immediately. Meanwhile, Bristol-Myers Squibb's executive VP and CFO Andrew Bonfield will leave the company "to seek new career opportunities." Report

> It looks like heparin and acts something like heparin, but it isn't heparin. It's a mysterious contaminant the FDA has found in batches of Baxter's heparin linked to nearly 800 serious drug reactions and as many as 19 deaths. Only detected by sophisticated testing not typically done by drug makers or their suppliers, the lookalike substance made up between 5 percent and 20 percent of the product's active ingredients in those samples. Report

> GlaxoSmithKline is off the hook in a U.K. investigation of its withholding data on the antidepressant Seroxat, sold as Paxil in the U.S. Report

> New trial data on GlaxoSmithKline's experimental bird flu vaccine indicates that the drug works against a variety of subsets of the virus. Report

> With a new smallpox vaccine accumulating in federal stockpiles, the U.S. government is disposing of millions of doses of Dryvax, the old smallpox vaccine that relies on skin scrapings from infected calves. Report

> Two former Wyeth workers continue to cause controversy for Wyeth's blockbuster vaccine Prevnar. Report

And Finally... In Seattle, a new malaria trial will pay volunteers to get infected. Report

ALSO NOTED: GSK losing its grip on HIV market; Ranexa gets angina review; Start-up CRO takes flight;and much more...

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:59:50 -0500

> Watch out, GlaxoSmithKline. The market for HIV drugs may be expanding, but it's shifting like the San Andreas Fault at the same time, and more than a handful of companies are poised to challenge GSK for dominance. Report

> CV Therapeutics says that federal regulators will review Ranexa as an initial therapy for angina. Release

> A fledgling CRO, Veracity BioTechnology, has flown the incubator to begin research life on its own. President Victor Buckwold, Veracity's sole full-timer at this point, is specializing in testing hepatitis C therapies. Report

> Emergent BioSolutions says that HHS will continue to buy its anthrax vaccine under a fixed $400 million contract. Release

> Schering-Plough has completed the acquisition of Organon. Report

> SGX Pharmaceuticals will get $25 million through a private placement. Release

> Despite a black box warning, atypical antipsychotics do big business in nursing homes. Report

> VaxInnate is in a tight race to develop the first "universal" flu vaccine that would be able to tackle a variety of influenzas and do away with the annual winter jab. Report

> A new compound has proved effective in animal studies in restoring electrical activity in the muscles of muscular dystrophy patients. Report

> A small gene therapy study involving a handful of Parkinson's patients has produced impressive data indicating that they may be on to a potential breakthrough. Report

And Finally... PS3 gamers and a team of internationally renowned scientists have joined forces on global molecular project. Report

ALSO NOTED: MS drug enters Phase III; Undaunted by data, Northfield looks to FDA; Sonus looks ahead; and much more...

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 06:59:50 -0400

> Genzyme and Bayer have launched their first Phase III trial of alemtuzumab for MS. Release

> Despite data that shows its blood substitute Polyheme is associated with higher rates of death compared to standard care, Northfield labs says it will go ahead and pursue an accelerated FDA review of the product. Report

> In an interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Sonus Pharmaceuticals CEO Mike Martino says that the company has enough money to push ahead to the middle of next year and has no immediate plans for any layoffs. The company's stock went into a freefall after its cancer therapy failed to prove as effective as Taxol. Report

> AstraZeneca has signed a deal with Keio University School of Medicine which it says will help speed the development of drugs in Japan. Release

> The U.S. government is showing more signs of life at its program to stockpile therapeutics against a bioterror attack. Emergent BioSolutions has won a $448 million contract to deliver the anthrax vaccine BioThrax. Release

> AmbioPharm has opened its new peptide production plant. Release

> The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Pfizer's appeal in a product liability suit originally brought in a Michigan court, but thrown out because of a state law limiting lawsuits over FDA-approved drugs. Report

> Roche's ongoing battle for Ventana reflects the growing importance of pairing drugs with diagnostics. Report

> According to a new study released by Roche, fast-growing tumors keel over in the face of Herceptin combined with chemotherapy. Report

And Finally… Property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Meghraj says that India's biotech boom will trigger a growing demand for new facilities. Report