GSK Awarded $63 Million US Government Contract for Pandemic Vaccine Research

GlaxoSmithKline (London, UK, www.gsk.com) has been awarded a $63.3-million contract from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the development of pre-pandemic and pandemic flu vaccines. The contract supports GSK’s ongoing pandemic vaccine research studying the use of the company’s adjuvant technology in combination with antigens to induce a strong immune response.

Under the terms of the contract, GSK will engage in research and development leading to licensure of antigen-sparing pre-pandemic and pandemic vaccines with adjuvant that will help the US government extend the limited North American supply of pandemic flu vaccines to protect larger populations in the event of a flu pandemic. The five-year contract also gives the government the option to fund an additional $44 million of future clinical development programs related to antigen-sparing pandemic vaccines.