Two firms win biodefense deals

PharmAthene has won a contract worth up to $213 million to supply its chemical nerve agent prophylaxis, Protexia, to the Department of Defense. PharmAthene says $34.7 million has been allocated for the first phase of development, which includes manufacturing scale-up, safety testing, and submission of an Investigational New Drug application with FDA. Separately, German biotech company MorphoSys has won a contract from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute on Infectious Diseases, which is the lead medical research laboratory for the DOD Chemical & Biological Defense Program. MorphoSys will supply USAMRIID with fully human recombinant research antibodies against five bacteria-derived toxins.