Bavarian Nordic Awarded Contract from the U.S. Government to Advance the Development of new MVA-BN® based vaccines
KVISTGAARD, Denmark, June 18, 2012 - Bavarian Nordic
A/S (OMX: BAVA) today announced that it has received a contract
from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
(NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, valued up to
USD 17.9 million over five years. This new contract will support
the advanced development of candidate vaccine components and
technologies that accelerate the immune response for use in
post-event settings following the intentional release of pathogens
that are considered a threat to public health.
Under the contract, Bavarian Nordic will evaluate several novel
technologies to accelerate and/or enhance the immune response to a
combined smallpox and Marburg virus vaccine based on MVA-BN®.
Although both diseases are considered priority pathogens by the US
government, if successful, the new technologies would have benefits
for all MVA-BN®-based vaccines for infectious disease and
cancer. Under the 2 year base period of the contract, valued at USD
4.4 million, Bavarian Nordic would evaluate several candidate
vaccines in preclinical studies. This may be followed by GMP
production and a Phase I clinical trial for the lead candidate that
will be performed under several contract options that may be
exercised until the end of the contract in 2017.
The contract does not affect the company's expectations for the
2012 full year results.
Anders Hedegaard, President & CEO commented: "This is the
first major award the company has received for a recombinant
MVA-BN® based vaccine and is a recognition of the huge
potential of MVA-BN® as a vaccine vector for infectious
diseases and cancer. This contract broadens our
collaboration with the US Government and we are excited to explore
the opportunity to expand the scope of application for our
MVA-BN® technology platform, which we have successfully
developed through our contracts with the U.S. Government to develop
our IMVAMUNE® smallpox vaccine"
Contact:
Anders Hedegaard, President & CEO.
Phone: +45 23 20 30 64
