Bavarian Nordic A/S (OMX: BAVA) announced today that BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) has awarded a new contract to Bavarian Nordic for the development of a freeze-dried version of its IMVAMUNE(R) smallpox vaccine with a total prospective value of USD 40 million.
The contract provides funds to validate the new freeze-dried manufacturing process and the associated pre-clinical and clinical studies to support the advanced development of a freeze-dried version of IMVAMUNE(R). The base year funding represents 33% of the total contract value, followed by four additional years of optional funding, which are triggered by the completion of pre-determined technical milestones. These freeze-dried development activities will be performed in parallel to the licensure activities of the current liquid-frozen IMVAMUNE(R) formulation under the RFP-3 contract.
The contract does not affect the company's expectations for the 2009 full year results.