Dutch biotechnology company Crucell N.V. has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Naval Medical Research Centre of the US Navy to construct AdVac-based vaccines against anthrax and plague and test them in non-human primates.

According to a company release, like Ebola and Marburg, anthrax and plague are among the so-called 'Category A' agents, which are considered by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to pose a significant risk in the event of use as bioterrorist agents. Category A agents can be easily disseminated or transmitted from person-to-person, result in high rates of mortality, may cause public panic and require special action for public health preparedness.

Crucell is already in the course of developing an Ebola vaccine with the Vaccine Research Centre (VRC) of the US National Institutes of Health and the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), utilizing adenovirus vector technology and PER.C6 production technology. The same technology will be used for the collaboration with the US Navy on anthrax and plague. Under the terms of the CRADA, Crucell has obtained an option on exclusive commercialization rights to any vaccine that could result from the collaboration.

"This program builds directly on our experience with the AdVac and PER.C6 technologies utilized in the HIV programs with Merck, IAVI and Harvard, our malaria program with NIH and the US Army and the TB program with Aeras," Crucell's Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Jaap Goudsmit said adding, "The primate studies are modelled after the Ebola studies we have conducted with the VRC and USAMRIID."