NanoViricides Inc (NNVC)

[Ubertino]

Sanofi-Aventis wins new $192.5 mln order for avian flu vaccine from U.S. govt

04.28.08, 3:39 AM ET

PARIS (Thomson Financial) - Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi-Aventis, said it has received an order worth $192.5 million from the U.S. government for vaccines against a new strain of avian influenza.

Sanofi Pasteur said it will receive from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a payment of $192.5 million, to be booked in the second quarter of 2008, for supplying H5N1 bulk vaccine antigen that will produce approximately 38.5 million doses of vaccine.

In 2007, Sanofi Pasteur received $126.9 million for its bulk pandemic vaccine as part of a multi-year contract with HHS under the department's pandemic program.

The company said the antigen in the latest order will protect against a clade 2.2 strain of H5N1 virus (A/Barheaded goose/Qinghai Lake/01/2005) that is the first to be identified in an outbreak of migratory birds, which have the potential to spread the virus across continents.

Sanofi Pasteur last year received a U.S. licence for its H5N1 vaccine, the first avian influenza vaccine for humans.

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/04/28/afx4939040.html