Vaccine Development

Glide Pharma announced on Tuesday it was awarded a contract from Pfenex, Inc., to develop a solid vaccine against anthrax to overcome the drawbacks of the current vaccine on the market. Glide Pharma will use its Glide Solid Dose Injector … Read More…

A professor at West Liberty University is researching a vaccine for Francisella tularensis, a bacteria which has been classified as a possible bioterrorism threat by the CDC. Dr. Joseph Horzempa was given a grant of half a million dollars to … Read More…

New evidence has been found showing that anti-bacterial agents in the body may be able to fight bacteria as strong as anthrax. Lysozyme, an enzyme that is present in human tears, milk, mucus and saliva, attacks the cell walls of … Read More…

In light of a nearly $5 million loss last year, PharmAthene, Inc., an Annapolis, Maryland-based biodefense company, is working with the federal government to remove a clinical hold from its anthrax vaccine program. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration shut … Read More…

Soligenix, Inc., a Princeton, New Jersey-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, announced progress on Tuesday in the development of ThermoVax, a proprietary vaccine thermostabilization technology used in the company’s anthrax and ricin vaccines. Several complementary preclinical studies conducted with RiVax, the … Read More…

Integrated BioTherapeutics recently initiated a Phase 1 clinical trial of the safety and immunogenicity of its staphylococcal enterotoxin B vaccine STEBVax in heathy adults. “SEB is a biowarfare threat to the U.S. and the superantigens can be critical factors affecting … Read More…

Integrated BioTherapeutics, a Gaithersburg, Maryland-based vaccine research company, announced the initiation on Tuesday of a Phase I clinical trial to test the safety and immunogenicity of a vaccine against staphylococcal enterotoxin B. SEB is a member of a group of … Read More…

iBio, Inc., and Caliber Biotherapeutics, LLC, announced the execution of a license and collaboration agreement on Tuesday for the development and production of recombinant plant-based biopharmaceuticals. The agreement will combine iBio’s proprietary iBioLaunch technology and Caliber’s proprietary plant-based manufacturing capabilities. … Read More…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research recently announced that it is looking for a partner to collaborate on the further development, evaluation or commercialization of an oral anthrax vaccine. Currently, the only FDA-approved, licensed … Read More…

Cangene Corporation’s recent animal studies on a newly-developed botulism toxin antidote are sufficient to demonstrate that the treatment will work in humans, regulators have announced. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that the antidote against the bioterrorism threat is … Read More…

Two Maryland biotechnology companies, the Baltimore-based Paragon Bioservices and the Gaithersburg-based MaxCyte, recently began working together to produce experimental vaccines for the deadly Marburg and Ebola viruses. Ebola and Marburg are classified as filoviruses, which can carry an up to … Read More…

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center recently released the findings of a major study on next-generation monoclonal antibodies. The Center for Biosecurity of UPMC conducted the study to assess the potential use of next-generation monoclonal antibodies as medical countermeasures for … Read More…

American researchers recently said that they have developed an effective antidote against cyanide poison that can be administered quickly with an injection. Current cyanide antidotes, including the compound hydroxocobalamin, are effective, but require administration through an intravenous infusion in order … Read More…

Lysozyme, an enzyme found in human bodily fluids, has been shown to attack Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes anthrax. The enzyme, which is present in human milk, tears, semen, mucous and saliva, degrades the cell walls of bacteria, ultimately … Read More…

The Delaware Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the ongoing litigation between PharmAthene, Inc., and SIGA Technologies over funds from SIGA’s smallpox antiviral ST-246. Following the conclusion of oral arguments heard in the case between the two pharmaceutical giants, … Read More…

Developing an effective vaccine for tularemia, a high-risk infectious disease considered to be a potential bioterrorism agent, may require focusing on the higher-risk type A strain, according to a recent study. A Korean research team looked into the progress made … Read More…

Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., announced the initiation of a Phase 2 study on Tuesday designed to evaluate non-interference of BioThrax when administered in conjunction with antibiotics. The non-interference study will support a supplemental Biologicals License Application seeking licensure of a post-exposure … Read More…

Scientists funded by the U.S. military and the U.K.-based Wellcome Trust recently conducted a study to better understand scrub typhus, a potential biological weapon that could be used by terrorists. Scrub typhus is an endemic disease of the Asia-Pacific region … Read More…

PsiOxus Therapeutics, Ltd., an Oxford, United Kingdom-based development stage biotechnology company, announced the award of a $3.3 million contract on Wednesday to develop biodefense vaccine adjuvants for an anthrax vaccine candidate. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency awarded PsiOxus Therapeutics with … Read More…

Researchers from Great Britain’s University of Sheffield and the Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute in Moscow have developed an enzyme treatment to combat exposure to nerve agents such as tabun, sarin and VX. The scientists were recently successful in using a modified human … Read More…

Biodefense company PharmAthene, Inc., recently announced that it has acquired the commercial license to use biopharmaceutical Percivia’s proprietary PER.C6 technology platform to produce its next generation bioscavenger. PER.C6 is a human, cell-based manufacturing platform that can produce a variety of … Read More…

Soligenix, a Princeton, New Jersey-based development stage biopharmaceutical company, recently announced that it received approximately $521,000 as part of a state tax certificate transfer program. The company received the non-dilutive financing as part of New Jersey’s Technology Business Tax Certificate … Read More…

Soligenix, Inc., a Princeton, N.J.-based biopharmaceutical company, announced on Sunday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reviewed and approved its investigational new drug application for its gastrointestinal acute radiation syndrome drug. OrbeShield, oral beclomethasone 17,21-dipropionate or oral BDP, mitigates … Read More…

Immunovaccine announced positive results on Thursday from an immunogenicity study evaluating anthrax vaccines formulated in its DepoVax platform. The study comes as part of an ongoing biodefense research program initiated in February with a goal of utilizing the DepoVax adjuvanting … Read More…

Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., recently announced that it had signed an exclusive licensing agreement with the biotech company VaxInnate Corporation. The Maryland-based company said that it has acquired the rights to manufacture and sell VaxInnate’s recombinant pandemic influenza vaccine candidate in … Read More…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the raxibacumab injection on Friday for the treatment of inhalational anthrax, making it the first monoclonal antibody approved under the administration’s Animal Efficacy Rule. Raxibacumab neutralizes toxins produced by Bacillus anthracis bacteria that … Read More…

Public-private partnerships require further research, funding and development to continue to effectively protect the U.S. population from bioterrorism, according to a representative from a major vaccine developer and manufacturer. Jennifer B. Alton, the vice president of government affairs at Bavarian … Read More…

The Delaware-based biotech company iBio, Inc., recently announced that its research and development partner, the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology, was awarded a federal contract to develop a vaccine against anthrax. The contract, awarded by the U.S. National Institute … Read More…

Pulmotect, Inc., a Houston-based biotechnology company, won the EARLY/Stage Shootout best early stage investment award in early November at the Southeast Bio 2012 conference from a panel of judges representing venture funds. The EARLY/Stage program pitted new medical technology companies … Read More…

Panacela Labs, a subsidiary of Cleveland BioLabs, won a $4.6 million contract from Russia’s Ministry of Trade and Industry to develop xenomycins, a family of anti-infective compounds. Xenomycins attack the DNA of pathogenic microbes. Preclinical studies showed the efficacy of … Read More…

Researchers from the U.K. Defense Science and Technology Laboratory recently reported on the success of Aradigm Corporation’s newly developed pneumonic plague therapy. The report, a preliminary study, showed that a single dose of Aradigm’s liposomal ciprofloxacin formulation, known as Lipoquin, … Read More…

Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., the makers of the only U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved anthrax vaccine, recently appointed Robert Kramer as its new chief financial officer. Kramer is scheduled to formally take over his new responsibilities on December 3. He … Read More…