Flu vaccine developer Medicago has received a $3.8 million milestone payment for the progress the Canadian company is making toward completing a new vaccine facility in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park.
Quebec City-based Medicago’s (TSX:MDG) milestone payment came from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which last August awarded the company a $21 million grant to build the 90,000-square-foot facility. The facility is part of DARPA’s “Blue Angel” project, which aims to develop new ways to rapidly produce large amounts of vaccine in response to infectious disease and bioterror threats.
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Medicago’s proprietary biotechnology will be used to develop and manufacture vaccines from tobacco plants. After the H1N1 flu outbreak in 2009, Medicago was able to develop a new vaccine within one month of identifying the H1N1 strain. The company’s RTP vaccine facility is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2011. Medicago expects the facility to have the capacity to produce 10 million doses a month of influenza vaccine with the potential for expansion in the future.
The DARPA milestone payment was Medicago’s second. The company has received $10.7 million to date for the project.
