Battelle, DoD to Test Emergent BioSolutions Anti-Nerve Agent Delivery Platform; Adam Havey Comments

Battelle and the Defense Department have selected a ruggedized auto-injector developed by Emergent BioSolutions for testing and further development work as the military seeks to create a nerve agent antidote delivery platform.

The Emergard platform works to inject a needle through a chemical protective gear, Emergent BioSolutions said Wednesday.

Battelle and DoD will complete the development work and tests on Emergard in 2016 prior to the U.S. military’s potential purchase of the platform.

Adam Havey, executive vice president and president of biodefense division of Emergent BioSolutions, said the auto-injector is part of the company’s effort to help “address biological and chemical threats as well as emerging infectious diseases.”

Emergard is “designed for intramuscular self-injection of antidotes and other emergency response medical treatments for nerve agents and other chemical threats,” Havey added.

Emergent BioSolutions received a $31 million contract from the Department of Health and Human Services in March 2015 to develop an anthrax vaccine and another contract from HHS in July 2015 to make an anti-Ebola therapeutic drug.