MedImmune, Sanofi Pasteur Win Vaccine Manufacturing Contracts

MedImmune, Inc. has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to modify its U.S. vaccine manufacturing facilities to produce pandemic influenza vaccines using its live, attenuated, needle-free technology. The total value of the fully funded base contract is approximately $55.1 million. MedImmune will contribute approximately $14 million to the retrofitting of its U.S. vaccine manufacturing facilities.

MedImmune’s marketed flu vaccine, FluMist, is currently manufactured, blended, filled, packaged, stored and distributed through a series of procedures at the company’s operations in CA, the UK, PA, and KY. MedImmune will modify and expand its equipment and processes at its U.S. facilities and provide manufacturing operations to help the government rapidly respond to vaccine manufacturing needs in the event of a pandemic.

Sanofi Pasteur has been awarded a $77.4 million contract by the HHS to modify its flu manufacturing facility. Sanofi Pasteur will contribute approximately $25 million to the project. The contract covers costs for design, modification and maintenance of the facilities at a state of readiness to respond to pandemic flu vaccine requests by the HHS.

The design phase will begin immediately and modifications will begin when the company’s new flu vaccine manufacturing facility is licensed by the FDA and operational. The existing facility will be phased out and decommissioned. The company’s capacity will nearly triple from its current capacity, which has been approximately 50 million doses of vaccine for the U.S. market during the past several flu seasons.