LANSING, Mich., Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A Maryland-based biotech firm is preparing to open a new Michigan facility to house mass production of its anthrax vaccine, the company said.
Rockville, Md.,-based Emergent BioSolutions is preparing to expand on its facility in Lansing, Mich., to begin mass production of BioThrax, the Detroit Free Press said Monday. The company has a $1.25-billion deal with the federal government to produce 45 million doses of the vaccine in the event of a mass biological weapon attack.
BioThrax is still the world's only approved anthrax vaccine and officials have called it the "gold standard" of bioweapons vaccines -- though it wasn't always in such great favor with federal officials.
Emergent was the subject of intense criticism in the 1990s and early 2000s, when the company had produced a vaccine that defense officials and Congress said would be ineffective in the face of a biological attack. The dosages were to be taken over several days -- impractical, officials said, in what would likely be a chaotic environment following a biological attack. Also, the vaccine at that point could not be mass produced, meaning demand would far outweigh supply, setting up a potentially dangerous scenario if a panicked public all sought the vaccine at once.
Emergent's new facility is under construction and must pass a meticulous Food and Drug Administration approval review before it can begin mass producing the anthrax vaccine. Once it does, the vaccine will cost between $21 and $28 per booster. The drug schedule requires patients to get a series of five shots over the course of 18 months.
