=Emergent BioSolutions (EBS) to acquire anthrax treatment, move manufacturing to Baltimore

Emergent BioSolutions, a Gaithersburg,MD-based drug maker with facilities in Baltimore, has acquired a drug used to treat anthrax from GlaxoSmithKline in a deal worth up to $96 million.

Under the deal announced Wednesday, Emergent will pay $76 million cash upfront and up to $20 million in product sales and milestone payments to acquire Raxibacumab, a drug used to treat inhaled anthrax.

The deal will add to Emergent’s portfolio of countermeasures for infectious diseases and advance the company’s goal of growing business at its recently expanded Baltimore manufacturing facility. The drug comes with a $130 million federal contract. Emergent plans to make and package it at its East Lombard Street facility and another on South Paca Street beginning in 2020.

“It’s an anchor product for Baltimore,” Emergent CEO Daniel J. Abdun-Nabi said.


In partnership with the federal government, Emergent spent $80 million to double the size of its manufacturing plant near Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

As one of three Centers for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing, the facility can be called on by the federal government to mass-produce flu vaccines and has received contracts to manufacture drugs for other public health threats, such as Ebola and Zika.

The expansion, which was completed in May, significantly adds to the facility’s capacity and makes it possible for the company to produce larger-scale commercial drugs.


The company also is developing NuThrax, a next-generation vaccine for adsorbed anthrax, which is currently in trials.

Raxibacumab, which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is expected to keep the East Baltimore plant busy for years to come, Abdun-Nabi said.

The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close later this year.

GSK will continue making the drug and Emergent will purchase it, then deliver it to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile, as manufacturing operations shift to Baltimore. Emergent expects to begin manufacturing the drug in Baltimore in 2020.