Emergent BioSolutions has received contract modifications worth more than $250m from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to supply “millions of doses” of four medical countermeasures (MCMs).
The US Department of HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) edited existing contracts with Emergent to ensure “continued supply/stockpiling of critical MCMs to address biological threats and emergencies against anthrax, smallpox and botulism”.
The two MCMs under the contract modifications include Emergent’s adjuvanted anthrax post-exposure prophylaxis vaccine Cyfendus, and ACAM2000, a live smallpox vaccine. The contract modification for Cyfendus was valued at $30m and ACAM2000 at $99.9m.
Emergent also signed two new contract options for VIGIV [vaccinia immune globulin intravenous] products for treating smallpox vaccination complications and BAT (botulism antitoxin heptavalent), a treatment for symptomatic botulism. The new options are valued at $122.9m and are part of the company’s existing ten-year contracts with ASPR.
The increased vaccine supply could be attributed to an increase in smallpox / mpox cases over the past year. It has also resulted in an increased demand for vaccines in multiple countries as part of their public preparedness actions.
Following the news, Emergent saw a modest upswing in its stock, which was up by 6% when the market closed on 2 July, compared to the market close on the previous day. The company’s market cap stands at $392.49m.
The news comes two months after the company started its cost-saving plans, which included firing around 300 employees and making approximately 85 positions redundant. This was in line with Emergent’s plan to solely focus on its medical countermeasures and Narcan operations.
Emergent has several contracts with government agencies for vaccines and therapeutics for infectious diseases. In January, the company signed a $235.8m contract with the US Department of Defence to supply Cyfendus.
Cyfendus is an adsorbed form of the anthrax vaccine packaged along with an adjuvant. It was approved for post-exposure prophylaxis use in adults aged 18 – 65 years by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2023. The two-dose anthrax vaccine is meant to be administered in conjunction with recommended antibacterial drugs by the FDA.
In August 2023, Emergent signed a ten-year contract worth up to $704m to develop Ebanga (ansuvimab-zykl) for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which is part of ASPR. Ebanga is a monoclonal antibody that was approved by the FDA to treat the Ebola virus disease in 2020.
