Emergent BioSolutions and sanofi pasteur to develop novel Meningitis B vaccine
US biopharma company Emergent BioSolutions has signed an agreement with sanofi pasteur, the vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group, that gives sanofi pasteur exclusive, worldwide rights to Emergent BioSolutions' proprietary proteins and related technology for the development of a novel vaccine to protect against Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B bacterial infections.
US biopharma company Emergent BioSolutions has signed an agreement with sanofi pasteur, the vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group, that gives sanofi pasteur exclusive, worldwide rights to Emergent BioSolutions' proprietary proteins and related technology for the development of a novel vaccine to protect against Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B bacterial infections.
The agreement provides that the parties will collaborate in all aspects of product development through to regulatory approval. The companies are targeting a major unmet public health need as current vaccines do not provide protection against serogroup B meningitis.
Under the terms of the agreement, the parties will jointly evaluate and develop a pool of Emergent BioSolution's proprietary antigens as the basis of a multivalent subunit vaccine against Neisseria meningitidis infection. Emergent BioSolutions identified these protein candidates using its patented Signature-Tagged Mutagenesis (STM) functional genomics technology in combination with functional proteomics techniques.
Emergent BioSolutions will have primary responsibility for product development activities through Phase I clinical trials. Sanofi pasteur will have primary responsibility for product development activities from initiation of Phase II studies through to regulatory approval, and for all commercialization activities including worldwide sales and marketing.
Upon agreement sanofi pasteur paid Emergent BioSolutions an up-front license fee of Euro 3m. Agreement terms also provide for payments to Emergent BioSolutions for all development services provided in advancing a vaccine through Phase I clinical trials with a retrospective payment for work performed from January 1, 2006 until agreement, significant milestone payments along the development cycle and royalties on eventual products sales.
"Our agreement with sanofi pasteur is an important step forward in the development of a critically needed vaccine to prevent one of the world's deadliest childhood diseases," said Fuad El-Hibri, chairman and ceo of Emergent BioSolutions. "This agreement is also consistent with our strategy of selectively establishing relationships with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for the commercialisation of certain of our product candidates."