NIH grants IDT 10-year vaccine manufacturing contract

IDT Biologika has won a 10-year contract worth up to $80 million from the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to make vaccines and biologics for infectious diseases.

The so-called Indefinite Quantity, Indefinite Delivery contract means IDT will stay on call during the contract period as NIAID hammers out the exact content and quantity of each individual project along the way.

What has been decided is the general nature of the contract. IDT will support some early infectious disease R&D projects, provide process development, and manufacture phase 1/2 clinical test materials and probably drugs for Biologic License Applications.

If the German contract manufacturer delivers all projects over the 10-year course, it could receive up to $80 million. For now, it has received an initial $88,900 for administrative, technical and management support covering the first year from May 15, 2018, to next May, said the company.

Specializing in contract manufacturing of both human and animal health products, "IDT has a long-standing history and proven track record of developing and manufacturing bacterial and virus-based vaccines, including fill and finish for international governments and a number of pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide," CEO Andreas Kastenbauer said in a statement.

IDT currently operates human products manufacturing facilities in Dessau-Rosslau, Germany, and Rockville, Maryland, both of which "are well-positioned to serve the current and future requirements of NIAID," said Kastenbauer. In addition, in May 2017 it inaugurated its new R&D campus with 30 labs on the German island of Riems. Last August, it also acquired a veterinary vaccine development and manufacturing facility in Canada from Honeywell.

The $80 million pact also came on the heels of a grant worth up to $36 million from public-private epidemic preparedness group CEPI for an IDT-led consortium to develop and potentially stockpile a vaccine against MERS. Other collaborators in that deal include the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Viroscience Department at the Erasmus Medical Center and Amsterdam-headquartered CRO called CR2O.

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