DynPort in Phase II of plague vaccine
Maryland company now conducting clinical trials of a potential plague vaccine
Frederick, Maryland-based DynPort Vaccine Company, a subsidiary of IT giant Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), is in Phase II of clinical trials for its plague vaccine. The tests are already in progress, testing four hundred individuals between the ages of eighteen and fifty-five, and will continue into next year. “An effective, licensed plague vaccine is a crucial component of U.S. biodefense initiatives,” says Robert House, president and chief scientific officer of DynPort. Scientists with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases were the creators of the vaccine before further development was taken over by DynPort.
DynPort already has one vaccine on the market and several others in clinical and preclinical testing. The company has also recently received a $242.5 million contract to develop seasonal and pandemic cell-based flu vaccines from the federal government. The company is working on this contract with Deerfield, Illinois-based pharmaceutical company Baxter Healthcare, a division of Baxter International.