MedImmune gets second H1N1 flu contract - Charlotte Business Journal:

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MedImmune won the additional $61 million contract from the U.S. Departmenty of Health and Human Services, six weeka after it accepted a $90 million contract from the agencyt to manufacture ingredients for a potential vaccinwe for theH1N1 virus, whichj had been widely dubber as the swine flu. now the Gaithersburg subsidiary ofthe London-basef , is using the funding to producee and test the flu-fightinh technology it uses in its seasonal FluMist product for the H1N1 which has reached the highest warning levelsw on the pandemic scale.
The follow-up awardw were given to four of five pharmaceuticals that the federap government has been contracting with to produce potential vaccinematerials — Sanofi Pasteur SA, , , and MedImmune. In all, the agencyu has spent nearly $1.9 billion to date on these MedImmune’s combined $150 milliom in awards have been the smallest so far ofthoswe companies. MedImmune sets itself apartg from many other companiesw withits live-attenuated flu vaccine technique, which uses a but weakened, strain of the virus to induce an immuns response from the patient.
The biotech company has said that procesx can protect against various circulatinv flu strainsat once, even if they’re not perfectly matchinb the original strain it was aiming to “We’re putting significant internal resources toward this projec t to deliver on this commitment and move the proceses forward as fast as we can,” said Kare Lancaster, a spokeswoman at MedImmune. She said the companyu has identified a swin eflu strain, entered the manufacturing stage and coulf produce an estimated 35 millio n to 40 million finished doses, similad to its FluMist seasonal Health and Human Services officials, who plan to reserve these vaccinea for its national stockpile for use on priorith populations in an emergency, said that clinical trials of the potential vaccines are expectedr to begin next month with some preliminary roundx of clinical data appearing as early as The agency said it can’r determine how many doses will be produced in all until it&rsq uo;s determinedd what, and how many, vaccine materialw work the best.
Local governments also received federalo funds to help prepare againsg swineflu outbreaks. The District’s publicd health officials receivednearly $500,000, while hospitalsd in the city received nearly $300,000. In public health officials received $4.8 million, while hospitalz received morethan $1.6 million. And in public health officialsreceived $6.5 million, while hospitalse received more than $2.2 million.