Emergent BioSolutions of Rockville and PharmAthene of Annapolis are two biotech companies that have been awarded contracts to produce drugs for the US government in case of another anthrax attack.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded PharmAthene Inc. a multi-year contract to develop and manufacture an anthrax vaccine. The company is an Annapolis-based biodefense research firm whose contract to combat anthrax is worth $83.9 million.

According to the contract, the company is to receive an initial $13.2 million for clinical trials and testing of the vaccine. The biodefense company, which develops medical countermeasures against biological and chemical threats, is trying to find a treatment that could be as “user friendly” as possible.

However rival Emergent BioSolutions of Rockville announced yesterday that they also received a federal development contract to build new anthrax vaccine. This is currently the government's single supplier of anthrax vaccine under a $448 million contract to stockpile 18.75 million doses of BioThrax. But it seems that the government is looking for better vaccine technology.

Both companies are competing to supply the Strategic National Stockpile with 25 million doses of anthrax vaccine.
The awards where awarded at the same time with BARDA Industry Day in Arlington, where government and business leaders gathered to discuss biodefense and public health issues.

“This was obviously more important to PharmAthene than it was to Emergent,” said Stephen G. Brozak, president of WBB Securities. “When you don’t have revenue, any kind of positive news has a disproportionate effect. People automatically assumed Emergent was going to get it. People weren’t sure about PharmAthene.”