Baxter receives US HHS contract for influenza vaccine

DynPort Vaccine Company (DVC), in conjunction with Baxter International, has received a $201.2 million (97 million pound) contract modification from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the development of Baxter’s cell-cultured seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines.

The seasonal influenza vaccine development is being funded through US Food and Drug Administration licensure while Phase II clinical trials are being funded for the development of pandemic vaccine candidates.

DVC is the prime contractor in the programme and is providing overall management for the clinical trials while Baxter is developing the candidate vaccines and will manufacture the vaccines and own the clinical data and licences.

Robert V House, president and chief scientific office of DVC, illustrated that current progress with the vaccines highlighted the importance of the development programme for both companies.

“By combining Baxter’s technology with DVC?s biologics life-cycle and contract management expertise, the team has made great progress in advancing these two influenza vaccine candidates,” he confirmed.

The president of Baxter’s vaccine business Kim Bush stated the funding validated the potential for the cell-culture vaccine candidates.

Earlier this year, Baxter announced that it had entered into an agreement with the UK Department of Health for the advanced supply of influenza vaccine.