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Trying to Get Ahead of the Herd
David P. Wright, CEO of PharmAthene, which has received almost $24 million in federal funds to develop drugs to combat chemical weapons.
(Pharmathene)
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Though the first federal contracts for anti-anthrax therapies went to Rockville's Human Genome Sciences and Canadian firm Cangene, PharmAthene executives said their firm was not far behind in the race to produce drugs to battle chemical weapons and anthrax.
"We absolutely believe in our products, and in our ability to compete and win a contract," said Francesca Cook, vice president of policy and government affairs for PharmAthene. Project Bioshield "is still getting formulated," Cook said, and PharmAthene is moving forward with its research to compete in the next round of federal contracts.
The company is working on a drug called Valortim aimed at counteracting toxins released by anthrax bacteria. Those toxins can build up quickly, killing a victim within days of exposure. The treatment is similar to one being developed by HGS and Elusys Therapeutics of Pine Brook, N.J. The efficacy of the drugs is still being tested, and none has been licensed.
In the effort to develop antitoxins for anthrax, HGS has taken the lead. Last month, the company completed clinical trials that showed its drug, ABthrax, improved survival rates in monkeys infected with anthrax and was safe for human consumption.
"That was the last remaining significant scientific hurdle that we had to overcome," said HGS spokesman Jerry Parrott. "The major task remaining under our contract for delivery to the Strategic National Stockpile is the actual manufacturing of the product."
The firm expects to produce the 20,000 doses the government ordered, with a price tag of $165 million, by the end of this year, Parrott said. The Department of Health and Human Services, which administers Project Bioshield, also awarded Cangene a $144 million contract to produce 10,000 doses of an anthrax antitoxin.
HGS has received some federal support, but has largely paid for its research itself, company officials said. PharmAthene has gone a different route, seeking federal grants and congressional appropriations to subsidize its work. Last week, it learned that it won a $1.6 million earmark in the new defense bill for its Valortim research from Reps. Rush D. Holt (D-N.J.) and Tom Latham (R-Iowa). Over the past several years, PharmAthene has received close to $24 million in federal funding, including $13.9 million to co-develop the drug with Medarex of Princeton, N.J.
Over the past year, PharmAthene has campaigned for resources to develop medical countermeasures against bioterrorism threats.
Last November, it hired a consulting firm to produce a report about the threat to the United States that described various scenarios in which attacks could cause death and panic on the New York subway system, a Minneapolis theater, a Las Vegas casino, California theme park and the Academy Awards in Hollywood.
"After each attack, the facilities are shut down and fear builds in the public," the report said. "Hundreds of FBI agents work to discover the perpetrator without success, not unlike the 2001 attacks in the U.S. There is no end in sight from the attacks."
