Emergent BioSolutions Inc. has delivered just fewer than one million doses of BioThrax (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed), the only FDA licensed anthrax vaccine, to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for placement into the nation's strategic national stockpile (SNS).

This delivery represents revenue of approximately $22 million generated during 1Q 2007. These doses were provided to HHS ahead of schedule under a May 2006 modified contract that required the company to deliver five million doses to HHS before May 31, 2007. Since May 2005, the company has supplied 10 million doses of BioThrax to HHS for inclusion in the SNS, a company press release stated.

"I am very proud of the fact that we have fulfilled, ahead of schedule, our commitment to deliver an additional 5 million doses of BioThrax to HHS for placement into the SNS," stated Fuad El-Hibri, chairman and chief executive officer of Emergent BioSolutions. "HHS has to date ordered and received from us 10 million doses of BioThrax for the SNS. Having fully satisfied our existing contractual obligations to HHS, we are now prepared to assist the agency in fulfilling its previously announced requirement for 75 million doses of anthrax vaccine."

The SNS, which is administered by the US Centres for disease control and prevention, is a national repository of medical assets and countermeasures designed to provide state and local public health agencies with medical supplies needed to treat those affected by terrorist attacks, natural disasters, industrial accidents and other public health emergencies, such as a flu epidemic.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development, manufacture and commercialisation of immunobiotics, such as vaccines and therapeutics that induce or assist the body's immune system to prevent or treat disease. The company's biodefense business is focused on developing and commercialising immunobiotics for use against biological agents that are potential weapons of bioterrorism.