Pfenex Awarded U.S. Government Contract

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Biomedical Advanced R&D Authority (BARDA) has awarded Pfenex, Inc. a contract valued at $18.8 million in funding based on the achievement of milestones and that all contract options and extensions are exercised by the government.

The contract supports the development of a Pfenex Expression Technology-based production strain and process for the production of bulk recombinant protective antigen (rPA) from anthrax. Pfenex will apply its technology platform to identify high producing expression strains capable of producing high titers of stable rPA. Pfenex will then use its process development and scaleup capabilities to develop a cGMP process at commercial production scales as well as evaluate the performance of the protein in IND enabling preclinical studies.

“We are pleased to be awarded this contract for our rPA development program, which may offer a dramatic improvement in the nation’s ability to rapidly produce large amounts of a stable anthrax vaccine at a very competitive cost to the U.S. Government,” said Bertrand C. Liang, chief executive officer of Pfenex. “A recombinant solution for the production of this strategically relevant product has been sought after for a number of years and we are confident that Pfenex’s platform will deliver that solution.”