Investing in biodefense companies
reluctant to invest in this field — why spend millions, or even billions, on something that may or may not ever be used? Who would be the buyer? What about the legal aspects if something went wrong? Among other measures, these acts addressed the concerns of the industry to some extent. Some companies, mainly biotechnology companies, took up the challenge and came up with vaccines and drugs to combat Smallpox. A few companies that I find notable are listed below.
Vaccines
Acambis makes ACAM2000, a live vaccinia virus. Vaccinia is related to Variola, but does not cause Smallpox. Immunizing with Vaccinia results in immunity to Variola. This vaccine was developed under a contract with the CDC and is made in cell culture (as opposed to eggs). It is the primary smallpox vaccine for use in a bioterrorism emergency and forms the majority of the U.S. government’s smallpox vaccine stockpile. Acambis has supplied 195.2 million doses of ACAM2000 to the U.S. government for its Strategic National Stockpile. Acambis has also supplied ACAM2000 under a Food and Drug Administation (FDA) Investigational New Drug application to several other governments around the world. The FDA approved the vaccine in August 2007. Acambis is also developing vaccines against Japanese Encephalitis (phase III completed, licensed to Sanofi-Pasteur), West Nile (phase II completed, licensed to Sanofi-Pasteur), and Dengue (phase III, licensed to Sanofi-Pasteur). It is the only company that is developing vaccines against C. Diff Colitis (caused by Clostridium difficile) and the product finished phase I in 2007. It is being reformulated and will go into phase II later in 2008. Perhaps the biggest of them all, it has a vaccine against Influenza that is not limited to a particular strain but attempts to elicit broad immunity. The company reported the results from its phase I study in January 2008.
Bavarian Nordic uses its modified vaccine Ankara (MVA-BN) technology of multivalent vaccine vectors for the development of vaccines against infectious diseases. It has ongoing development contracts with the US government (awarded in June 2007, September 2004, and February 2003) to develop IMVAMUNE as a safe third-generation smallpox vaccine. Bavarian Nordic’s clinical development program has been further expedited by the US government with the FDA grant of “fast-track” status for IMVAMUNE. To date, the company has shown IMVAMUNE to be the best characterized MVA based on:
- Comprehensive preclinical animal data (in 2 mice models
