Emergent BioSolutions (Gaithersburg, US) has purchased US and Canadian rights to Kloxxado, adding to its opioid overdose treatment portfolio, which includes Narcan. The growing US opioid epidemic (including synthetic fentanyl) and its treatments will provide future growth drivers for Emergent, said Joe Papa, president and CEO of Emergent, at this year’s J.P. Morgan 43rd Annual Healthcare Conference on 15 January.

Papa presented the company’s “turnaround plan” for 2025 at J.P. Morgan. “We are focused on first stabilising the company, then turning it around and ultimately transforming the company,” Papa told the conference. “It’s a multiyear process.”

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Emergent BioSolutions had significant problems during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the company reportedly destroying almost 400 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines and allegedly concealing quality issues, according to a 2022 US government investigation. Emergent is now seeking to re-establish itself as a trusted public health threat drug developer and manufacturer, with treatments for opioid overdose, smallpox, mpox, cholera, and flu.

In terms of financial health, Emergent reported a 10% annual revenue increase to $849m between the third quarter (Q3) of 2023 and Q3 2024. Papa continued: “Net debt [has been] reduced by $200m. We are pleased by that, we did that through selling and divesting assets … we have reduced working capital by $100m by [the] third quarter of 2023 to make [the] business more efficient.” These divestments included the sale of Emergent’s Baltimore-Camden fill-finish plant to Bora Pharmaceuticals (Taipei, Taiwan) for $30m on 20 June 2024.

Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, US) revealed in July 2024 that it would pay Emergent $50m to settle a two-year contract dispute over the production of Covid-19 vaccines. This development has also improved Emergent’s financial metrics.

Emergent announced on 14 January 2025 that it had entered into an agreement to obtain exclusive commercial rights in the US and Canada to Hikma Pharmaceuticals’ (London, UK) Kloxxado nasal spray, an 8mg naloxone agent that is approved for the emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose. The bigger dose – twice that in Narcan – is suited to combat fentanyl overdose, due to the drug’s high potency.

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Other deals have been improving Emergent’s fortunes. In December 2024, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) (Washington, D.C., US) awarded a $50m option to Emergent’s existing contract for the acquisition of Cyfendus, a subunit vaccine for anthrax. Deliveries are expected to begin this calendar year and be completed by April 2025.

In January 2025, BARDA also executed a $16.7m option for drug product process, analytical testing validation, and long-term stability for Ebanga, a monoclonal antibody for the Zaire Ebola virus.

Emergent Biosolutions is an excess-capacity contract manufacturing organisation with 21 marketed drugs. Narcan is its most successful drug, a 4mg dose of naloxone to treat acute opioid overdose, which the company acquired in 2018 along with its acquisition of Adapt Pharma (Dublin, Republic of Ireland).

When asked at J.P. Morgan about generic competitors to Narcan, Papa stated the company will not drop Narcan’s price to as low as generics’ $24, but that it will be “competitive with its price point for Narcan.” Papa stated that Narcan has the advantage of brand recognition for a product that has saved millions of patient lives, as well as automated manufacturing capabilities that competitors do not have, a longer shelf life (four years versus generics’ two), “a distribution network that is unmatched,” and a sales team that helps first responders to identify funding vehicles and grants to access Narcan, along with education programmes.