Genome to get U.S. govt anthrax drug deal
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Human Genome Sciences Inc. plans to announce a deal with the U.S. government on Monday to provide as many as 100,000 doses of an experimental anthrax drug, the Washington Post reported.
The Rockville, Maryland-based company will sell the government a third of an ounce of the drug for $1.8 million, an amount sufficient for government testers to compare the product with competitors, the paper said.
On Friday, U.S. officials awarded a similar contract to Winnipeg, Canada-based Cangene Corp. to supply its anthrax treatment product for a preliminary trial that could also lead to a larger order, the biotech firm said.
Cangene said its anthrax product, which is used to treat or prevent inhalation anthrax, had been picked for preliminary efficacy testing.
Under both contracts, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has an option to buy between 10,000 and 100,000 doses of the products.
Anthrax is an acute and sometimes deadly infectious disease caused by spore-forming bacterium that can be used as a biological weapon.
Letters laced with anthrax killed five people in the weeks that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, and many people were treated with strong antibiotics in case they had been infected. The cases have still not been solved.
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