Via the Health Protection Agency: HPA awarded £4 million contract by US government to develop next generation anthrax vaccine. Excerpt:
The US Government, through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded the Health Protection Agency (HPA) a contract worth £4 million ($6.5m) to develop a next generation anthrax vaccine at HPA’s facilities in Porton, Wiltshire, UK. The programme could be worth up to £14m ($24m) if all project milestones are met.
If successful, the next generation vaccine will combine the HPA’s expertise with anthrax vaccine antigens and US Company NanoBio Corporation’s adjuvant technology enabling a vaccine to be delivered by fewer doses than currently required and by an intra-nasal spray device instead of an injection.
Dr Roger Hinton, principal investigator and head of development and production at HPA Porton, said: “We are delighted to achieve this award which is recognition of our world leading status in the field of anthrax vaccine research and development - we already manufacture anthrax vaccine for the UK and our expertise in this area is essential for the success of this programme.”British expertise goes back to World War II, when the Scottish island of Gruinard was infected with anthrax so effectively that it wasn't decontaminated until the late 1980s.
