Xoma in $65 million anti-botulism drug development contract

XOMA today announced that it was awarded a $65 million multiple year contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to support XOMA’s ongoing development of drug candidates toward clinical trials in the treatment of botulism poisoning, a potentially deadly muscle paralyzing disease. The contract is the third that NIAID has awarded to XOMA for the development of botulinum antitoxins and brings the program’s total to nearly $100 million.

This award furthers XOMA’s plans to develop anti-botulism antibody products to protect against natural, accidental or intentional human exposure to botulism. In general, XOMA plans to initiate testing of its first drug candidate in human safety and animal efficacy studies in 2009. Depending on positive results, continued government funding and additional human safety studies, XOMA plans to file the data package necessary to begin production of drug candidates for the Strategic National Stockpile. Following positive discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, XOMA plans to prepare and submit a Biologics License Application (BLA).