Kvistgård, Denmark (June 4)—Bavarian Nordic received a $1.6-billion contract from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, Washington, DC) to manufacture and deliver 20 million doses of its smallpox vaccine “Imvamune.”

HHS is supplying a base contract payment of $500 million to support additional research and development of Imvamune for the vaccine’s potential use during an emergency. The payment also will fund nonclinical and clinical studies for the vaccine.

The contract includes advance and milestone payments worth as much as $150 million and contractual options worth $1.1 billion. The contractual-options payment would fund further clinical studies of the vaccine that extend the license to include those infected with HIV, children, and the elderly. The payment also could be used to procure up to 60 million additional doses of Imvamune.