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U.S. Orders Botulism Treatment
A Canadian biopharmaceutical company announced yesterday that it had received a $362 million order from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department to produce 200,000 doses of a treatment against botulism (see GSN, June 14, 2005). Cangene Corp. of Winnipeg received the contract through Project Bioshield for the botulinum toxin immune globulin. The company had already begun developing the drug under a previous contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cangene anticipates delivering an unidentified amount of “usable product” to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile by mid-to-late 2007, according to a company press release. It will also seek accelerated approval of the product from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The contract includes additional payment options of up to $234 million for further work, including maintaining product manufacturing, further testing in specific populations, and testing to support the drug’s shelf life. “We are very pleased that HHS has chosen to continue funding for Cangene to develop this important biodefense product,” John Langstaff, Cangene president and chief executive officer, said in the release. “Botulinum toxins are one of the bioterrorist weapons that has been determined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to be a material threat to national security” (Cangene Corp. release, May 31).
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