Altimmune, a clinical-stage immunotherapeutic company based in Gaithersburg, Maryland , has been awarded a contract valued at up to $120.2 million over five years from the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to fund the clinical development of NasoShield, its anthrax vaccine candidate.

Under the BARDA contract, Altimmune has been awarded $14.3 million under the base contract to fund its Phase I trial for NasoShield, and options to receive up to an additional $105.9 million to fund further pre-clinical, clinical, and manufacturing development activities.

NasoShield has been supported by BARDA as a development-stage medical countermeasure product and is designed to provide protection after one intranasal administration. The initial award under the BARDA contract will cover the GMP manufacture and the Phase I trial. The remainder of the five-year contract is expected to encompass a dose-selection Phase Ib study; scale-up in manufacturing; non-clinical studies; Phase II studies for immunogenicity, effectiveness and interactions with antibiotics; regulatory efforts; and formulation development to improve stability.

The company says it remains on track to file an investigational new drug application with the US Food and Drug Administration and commence a Phase trial in the second half of 2017.

Source: Altimmune