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Mass. lawmakers looking at buying Hollis-Eden radiation drug (HEPH)

By Val Brickates Kennedy

BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- The assistant majority leader of the Massachusetts state senate has asked biodefense developer Hollis-Eden (HEPH) for information on its radiation sickness drug Neumune, which could be used to treat victims of a terrorist nuclear attack. According to a spokesman for State Sen. Mary Ann Walsh, Walsh has asked Hollis-Eden to supply information on how many doses would be needed to treat residents and commuters in the Greater Boston area, citizens living around the Plymouth, Mass., nuclear power plant, and the state's emergency first responders and guardsmen, a number that would reach well in excess of 1 million. Walsh's office said she plans to present the information, along with projected costs, to the Mass. Senate Ways and Means Committee at the end of the month, when the committee begins the state's budget process. Hollis-Eden confirmed it was working to provide Walsh's office with the requested projections. Hollis-Eden is also in the process of seeking a federal contract for Neumune under the Project Bioshield anti-terrorism initiative.