HHS buys drug to block anthrax infection

The Department of Health & Human Services will purchase from Human Genome Sciences 20,000 doses of a drug designed to block the lethal effects of an anthrax infection. The deal is worth about $165 million to HGS and is the biotech company's first product sale. The purchase of HGS's ABthrax, or raxibacumab, a monoclonal antibody drug, comes under the government's $5.6 billion Project Bioshield initiative. Bioshield aims to stockpile drugs and vaccines to counter terrorist attacks, and HGS expects to deliver its drug to the stockpile by 2008. ABthrax has yet to be approved by FDA, but it could be used before approval in the event of an emergency. The company has performed Phase I clinical trials with the drug, which was found to be safe. The company has yet to conduct Phase II and III efficacy trials. Some critics of monoclonal antibody drugs have argued that they are too expensive, can't be delivered quickly because they have to be injected, and have storage problems.