DoD awards two-year contract to Advanced Life Sciences

CHICAGO Advanced Life Sciences Holdings today announced that the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the Department of Defense has awarded it a two-year contract worth up to $3.8 million to further study cethromycin as a potential broad-spectrum medical countermeasure.

Under the terms of the contract, $1.8 million of DTRA funds are available over a nine-month base period to initiate NDA-enabling studies measuring cethromycin’s efficacy in treating tularemia and plague as well as studies to measure the drug’s efficacy in treating melioidosis. The remaining $2.0 million may be awarded over the ensuing 15 months to complete the project.

“We are very excited to partner with DTRA and share its mission to reduce the threat of biological warfare and bioterrorism,” stated Michael Flavin, chairman and chief executive officer of Advanced Life Sciences. “We believe this government contract further validates the potential of cethromycin as a biodefense agent, and it enables us to conduct pivotal studies to expand cethromycin’s potential spectrum of activity beyond the success that was demonstrated in preventing inhalation anthrax.”