Chiron gets $62M deal for bird flu vaccine stockpile - 2005-10-28 - Sacramento Business Journal

Note: Chiron has a production facility in Vacaville located in Solano County.

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October 28, 2005

Chiron gets $62M deal for bird flu vaccine stockpile

Chiron Corp. said Thursday it got a contract for $62.5 million from the U.S. government for influenza vaccine to be used in a stockpile against a possible bird flu pandemic.

Emeryville-based Chiron (NASDAQ: CHIR) will make the drugs at its Liverpool, England factory for the Department of Health and Human Services.

Making the H5N1 avian influenza vaccine there will not affect Chiron's production of its Fluvirin vaccine, the company said.

The government stockpile woud include enough vaccine for 20 million people and enough viral medication for another 20 million. Chiron did not say how many doses it would make for the government. No one at the company could be reached for comment.

Chiron will begin delivering the drug to the government next year.

Chiron last year acquired Davis-based biotech company Sagres Discovery, which used research developed at University of California Davis to identify genes that can cause tumors and was working with pharmaceutical companies, but had trouble raising sufficient additional capital on its own. The company was expected to be folded into Chiron's Emeryville operation.