Anthrax vaccine to be manufactured and marketed in the U.K.

2003 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- VaxGen, Inc., (VXGN) and the Health Protection Agency (HPA) for England and Wales have signed a binding letter of intent (LOI) to negotiate terms under which VaxGen would license U.K. rights to, and transfer technology for, its recombinant anthrax vaccine candidate (rPA102) to HPA.

The agreement would give HPA the right to manufacture the vaccine in the United Kingdom as well as to market the vaccine in the United Kingdom and possibly other territories.

The LOI envisages that VaxGen will continue to manufacture rPA102 in the U.S. and HPA would establish manufacture in the U.K., with each party acting as a back-up supplier of anthrax vaccine to the other, thus increasing the supply security of this strategically important product.

Earlier this year, VaxGen completed construction and commissioning of its U.S. manufacturing facility with a capacity of approximately 100 million doses per year.

Under the terms of the LOI, HPA would be responsible for transfer of the manufacturing process and licensure of the product in the U.K. VaxGen would receive a royalty on sales of rPA102, if it is approved by the U.K. regulatory authority. This royalty may be supplemented by reciprocal rights to product technologies under development by ...