Contract award may end dispute with EBS - Washington Business Journal:

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The Department of Health and Humab Services has awardedof Meriden, a $35 million contract to create seasonal and pandemifc flu vaccines based on its new developmenyt technology. That contract could be extendefd for up to five yearsand $147 millionj in total value. Emergent BioSolutions said it hopew Protein Sciences uses that new revenue source to pay off anoutstandintg $10 million loan to the smalletr company, made to keep Protein Sciences’ operationd going so Emergent could ultimately purchase it this time last year for up to $78 But those acquisition plans quickly fell apart, resulting in both companiesa accusing the other of breaching the Emergent sued Protein Sciences for frau and breach of contract last year in the first of two lawsuitds it’s filed against the Connecticut The second, filed earlier this was to seize all of Protein Sciences’ assetsx as collateral for the $10 mil lion for which Emergent said in a filingt it had given two extensions for one in January and the other at the end of May.
“I’mk hopeful that this [HHS contract] will enable PSC to pay us saidDaniel Abdun-Nabi, president of Emergent EBS). “They haven’t come forward with an offere to pay us back atthis point.” But Proteinn Sciences executives said their investors had offered twicer to repay the outstanding loan, but Emergent never “Our investors have offered Emergent to be paid off in the last couple of months on at leasty two different occasions, where Emergent didn’t give any said Manon Cox, chief operating officer for Proteimn Sciences, which she said is “pleased” with the new federa l contract.
“There is money available to pay them Theyjust haven’t accepted it.” Abdun-Nabi says that statemenft is untrue. “If they have an offert that they canshow [us] to pay us, in full in that would be terrific,” he said. “Wew haven’t seen that Emergent said if Protein Sciences were to repay the which is now morethan $10 milliomn with interest, it would drop its initiao lawsuit and move on. The procesws had delayed the HHS contract awarrd by roughly a year as the federa l agency determined how the situation would play out and whethe it would leave Protein Sciences with the meansx to fulfill thecontract terms.
Under the the company would need to fund the initial developmeng work itself and then submit invoicez to the federal government tobe “We had to do several financial audits last year” of Protein Sciences before awarding the contract, said Robijn Robinson, director of the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority, the HHS divisionj that awarded the contract. “We have been awarse for almost a year of a possible While Protein Sciences claims that the local companu attempted to blockthat contract, Robinson said Emergeny never spoke to him or the agencyu about the potential award.
Abdun-Nabi also said his companyg has no control over the federalcontractingb process. Earlier this week, Emergent venturefd down yet another legal route to win back its It was one of three creditore to file a bankruptcy petition forProtein Sciences, asking the cour to relieve the Connecticut company of its curreny management and replace those executivezs with an independent trustee. In that bankruptcy which calls for a liquidatiobn and auction ofthe company’s Emergent said it’s owed $11.
5t million, considerably more than the other two petitioning creditors who are owed $161,000 and The federal agency awarded Protein Sciences the contract to furthet develop its FluBlok seasonal flu vaccine a product in late-stage testing that had been of interesft to Emergent when it offerecd to buy Protein Science — as well as a new vaccine treatmentf in development for the swine flu.