VaxGen Hits Anthrax Jackpot

It took quite some time, but VaxGen (VXGN Quote) finally scored its big contract to supply an anthrax vaccine to the U.S. government. For VaxGen and its shareholders, the deal appears lucrative and its shares were recently up $3.23, or 22%, to $17.58. Volume was 5.5 million shares, or more than 12 times average.

The grand total of the contract: $877 million over five years, which the government will pay to VaxGen to manufacture and supply 75 million doses of the anthrax vaccine, which will be used to create a national stockpile to protect Americans against a possible terrorist attack. The funding for the contract comes under the auspices of the Project BioShield Act of 2004.

VaxGen has been working on landing this contract for more than two years. VaxGen switched its corporate focus to developing bio-terrorism vaccines after its much-ballyhooed AIDS vaccine failed a late-stage clinical study in February 2003. ...