MedImmune gets second H1N1 flu contract - Phoenix Business Journal:

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MedImmune won the additional $61 millionn contract from the U.S. Departmentg of Health and Human Services, six weeks after it accepted a $90 milliom contract from the agency to manufacturre ingredients for a potential vaccine for the H1N1 which had been widely dubbed as theswine flu. MedImmune, now the Gaithersburyg subsidiary ofthe London-based , is using the funding to producr and test the flu-fightinbg technology it uses in its seasonal FluMistr product for the H1N1 virus, whichy has reached the highest warnint levels on the pandemic scale.
The follow-up awards were given to four of five pharmaceuticals that the federakl government has been contracting with to produce potentiak vaccinematerials — Sanofi Pasteur SA, , , and MedImmune. In all, the agenc has spent nearly $1.9 billion to date on these contracts., MedImmune’s combined $150 million in awards have been the smallestg so far ofthosw companies. MedImmune sets itself apart from many other companies withits live-attenuatexd flu vaccine technique, which uses a live, but strain of the virus to induce an immune response from the The biotech company has said that process can protect againsrt various circulating flu strainx at once, even if they’re not perfectlty matching the original strain it was aimingf to treat.
“We’re putting significant internal resources toward this projecy to deliver on this commitment and move the process forward as fast as we saidKaren Lancaster, a spokeswomahn at MedImmune. She said the company has identified a swineflu strain, entered the manufacturing stage and couled produce an estimated 35 million to 40 millionn finished doses, similar to its FluMist seasonal Health and Human Services officials, who plan to reserv these vaccines for its national stockpile for use on prioritty populations in an emergency, said that clinicalp trials of the potential vaccines are expected to begimn next month with some preliminaru rounds of clinical data appearingf as early as September.
The agencu said it can’t determine how many doses will be produceed in alluntil it’s determine what, and how vaccine materials work the best. Local governments also receive federal funds to help prepare againstg swineflu outbreaks. The District’sa public health officials receivednearly $500,000, while hospitals in the city receivedx nearly $300,000. In Maryland, public healtgh officials received $4.8 million, while hospitals received morethan $1.6 And in Virginia, publi c health officials received $6.5 million, while hospitals receive more than $2.
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