Vaccine maker CSL Seqirus has lined up yet another contract with the U.S. government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to help with avian influenza preparedness, this one worth $121.4 million to boost supplies of the company's MF59 adjuvant.
MF59 is an adjuvant used in some influenza vaccines to strengthen the body’s immune response. The $121.4 million, multiyear pandemic preparedness award will expand the U.S.' MF59 reserves to an equivalent of 40 million vaccine doses, according to a CSL Seqirus press release.
CSL Seqirus will produce the adjuvant for the order at its massive facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina. The plant was built through a long-term BARDA partnership and can produce up to 150 million influenza vaccine doses per year, CSL Seqirus has said.
This deal marks the fifth avian influenza-related BARDA award the company has locked down. In May, CSL Seqirus was tapped to complete the fill and finish process for 4.8 million pre-pandemic vaccines as part of a government stockpiling program.
The company has also picked up a “ready to respond” designation, meaning that its seasonal flu shot production could immediately pivot to help respond to a bird flu pandemic.
While the bird flu virus poses a low risk to the general public, cases in poultry and dairy cows have stoked concerns over the last year. Since April of this year, 14 cases of infection in humans have been reported in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Elsewhere, BARDA branched out to Moderna in July, doling out $176 million in funding to assist in the development of an mRNA avian flu vaccine. BARDA previously forked over almost $1 billion to help with Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.