Antiviral pharma Chimerix gets $81M contract for smallpox countermeasure

Antiviral therapeutics company Chimerix has received a federal contract that could reach $81 million in value if the company successfully develops a medical countermeasure to a smallpox bioterrorism agent.

The contract awarded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, gives Durham, North Carolina-based Chimerix $24.8 million during the contract’s first year. The announcement comes on the heels of a Feb. 14 announcement that the company has completed a $45 million series F round of fundraising.

Chimerix is studying an antiviral drug candidate that for now is called CMX001. While the compound is in mid-stage clinical trials as a broad-spectrum antiviral, CMX001 also has shown potential against double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) viruses that cause morbidity and mortality in humans, including smallpox. The BARDA grant builds on $37 million in grant funding that Chimerix previously received from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a part of the National Institutes of Health. That funding was also directed toward development of CMX001 as a smallpox treatment.

Chimerix said that the BARDA contract will support expanded clinical studies of CMX001, including a recently started study of the compound for the treatment of 12 life-threatening or serious conditions caused by dsDNA viruses.

Related articles

• Antiviral pharma Chimerix raises $45M in series F venture round (medcitynews.com)