Emergent and its 44.75 million dose sale of Biothrax for civilians

With respect to the 44.75 million doses of anthrax vaccine that Emergent BioSolutions (EBS) has announced it is selling to DHHS for the civilian stockpile (for the past several years), comes this curious notice from the Maryland Gazette.  Perhaps not all federal bureaucrats are happy about paying a king's ransom for an unsafe and unproven vaccine.  Or perhaps EBS must continue to tithe before collecting all its bounty.

Emergent BioDefense Operations Lansing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Emergent BioSolutions of Rockville, reported an award from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for as many as 44.75 million doses of its BioThrax vaccine worth as much as $1.25 billion during the next five years.

The contract was effective last Sept. 30, but was just recently reported by Emergent to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The first doses were delivered in December. BioThrax is the only federally approved anthrax vaccine.

So far, $225 million has been committed under the CDC contract, according to the SEC filing. The rest of the award is subject to available federal funding.