Acambis PLC - ACAM2000 US Gov. Contract

RNS Number:9020S
Acambis PLC
23 April 2008

$425m, ten-year ACAM2000(TM) smallpox vaccine contract awarded to Acambis by US
Government

Cambridge, UK and Cambridge, Massachusetts - 23 April 2008 - Acambis plc
(Acambis) (LSE: ACM) announces that it has been awarded a $425m (c. £212m),
ten-year contract by the US Government agency, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), to provide it with a warm-base manufacturing capability
for Acambis' ACAM2000(TM) smallpox vaccine. Warm-base manufacturing entails the
maintenance of an ongoing production readiness capability through annual
production runs.

Under the terms of the contract, Acambis will:

•Establish a US-based manufacturing capability for ACAM2000(TM);
•Deliver against CDC orders for a minimum of nine million doses per annum
for the eight years from year three to year ten of the contract; and
•Undertake activities to maintain its product licence.

Acambis developed ACAM2000(TM) under a contract with the CDC and has already
delivered more than 195 million doses of this vaccine to the CDC for the US's
Strategic National Stockpile. Doses are also being supplied by the CDC to the
Department of Defense, which has transitioned over to ACAM2000(TM) for routine
vaccination of military, emergency-essential and equivalent civilian employees.

Acambis will establish a US-based manufacturing capability by transferring the
ACAM2000(TM) production process to Acambis' facilities in Canton, MA and
Rockville, MD. Previously, elements of the process were conducted outside the US
or by third-party contractors.

The CDC will procure at least nine million doses of ACAM2000(TM) a year in
contract years three to ten. The structure of the contract allows the CDC to
purchase up to 39 million doses in contract years five to ten, should the need
arise. This would increase the headline value of the contract to around $660m.
For the dose-delivery activities, Acambis will receive payment on a fixed-price
basis.

In addition, Acambis will undertake licence maintenance activities throughout
the life of the contract on a cost-plus-fixed-fee basis. In the initial years,
this includes conducting a Phase 4 study in US military personnel, establishing
an enhanced surveillance programme and myocarditis registry to monitor the
safety profile of the vaccine, and undertaking a bridging trial to support a
licence amendment for transfer of bulk production to its Canton, MA facility.

Of the $425m (c. £212m) revenues, approximately two-thirds relates to the
delivery of doses in contract years three to ten, and one-third to licence
maintenance activities.

Ian Garland, Chief Executive Officer of Acambis, said:

"We are delighted to be awarded this contract by the CDC, which marks the
achievement of one of Acambis' major corporate goals. It is highly satisfying to
know that, following eight years' collaboration with the CDC to develop
ACAM2000(TM), this core part of the US Government's defence against smallpox has
been secured by Acambis for the long term."

-ends-

A meeting and conference call for analysts will be held today at 9.30 a.m. BST.
For details, contact Annabel Entress at Brunswick on telephone number
+44 (0) 20 7404 5959. An instant replay of the call will be available until
30 April 2008 on telephone number UK: +44 (0) 20 8196 1998 and US:
+ 1 (866) 583 1035. The pin code is 949716#. A webcast of the call will also be
available via Acambis' website at www.acambis.com. The webcast replay will be
available for 12 months until 23 April 2009.

Enquiries:

Acambis plc
Ian Garland, Chief Executive Officer
Elizabeth Jones, Chief Financial Officer
Lyndsay Wright, VP, Communications and IR
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 275 300

Brunswick
Jon Coles / Justine McIlroy / Annabel Entress
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7404 5959

About Acambis

Acambis is a vaccine company developing novel vaccines that address significant
unmet medical needs or substantially improve standards of care. ChimeriVax(TM)-
JE, Acambis' most advanced product in its development-stage pipeline, has to
date shown an excellent safety and efficacy profile following pivotal Phase 3
trials. It is currently undergoing paediatric trials in the endemic region and
is partnered with Sanofi Pasteur. Acambis' proprietary ChimeriVax(TM)
technology, developed in association with St Louis University, has also been
used to develop ChimeriVax(TM)-West Nile, which is undergoing Phase 2 clinical
testing, making it the most advanced investigational vaccine against the West
Nile virus. Acambis has established a global collaboration with Sanofi Pasteur
for further development and commercialisation of the vaccine. ChimeriVax(TM) has
also been applied to development of Sanofi Pasteur's tetravalent dengue vaccine,
which has successfully demonstrated proof-of-concept in a Phase 2 trial by
generating 100% seroconversion to all four dengue virus serotypes.

Acambis' ACAM-CDIFF(TM) vaccine is believed to be the only vaccine in
development against Clostridium difficile bacteria, a leading cause of hospital-
acquired infections. C. difficile is estimated to cause at least 360,000 cases
of C. difficile-associated disease in the US alone, and annual costs to US and
European healthcare systems are estimated to be in excess of $7bn a year.
Acambis' influenza programme aims to develop a universal vaccine against
influenza, for which a universal 'A' strain vaccine, ACAM-FLU-A(TM), was
recently tested in a Phase 1 trial and pre-clinical challenge study. Acambis is
currently undertaking pre-clinical testing of a vaccine candidate, dl5-29,
against genital herpes.

Acambis is recognised internationally as the leading producer of smallpox
vaccines for emergency-use stockpiles held by the US Government and several
other governments around the world. Acambis developed its ACAM2000(TM) smallpox
vaccine under contracts with the US Government.

Acambis is based in Cambridge, UK and Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, and is
listed on the London Stock Exchange (ACM). More information is available at
www.acambis.com.

"Safe Harbour" statement

Statements contained within this news release may contain forward-looking
comments, which involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to
vary from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In some cases, you
can identify such forward-looking statements by terminology such as 'may',
'will', 'could', 'forecasts', 'expects', 'plans', 'anticipates', 'believes',
'estimates', 'predicts', 'potential', or 'continue'. Predictions and
forward-looking references in this news release are subject to the satisfactory
progress of research which is, by its very nature, unpredictable. Forward
projections reflect management's best estimates based on information available
at the time of issue.

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END
CNTDDGDSCUDGGID