Nabi Biopharmaceuticals Secures Supply And Contract Manufacturing Agreement With Sanofi Pasteur For Anti-Rabies Product
Under the terms of the agreement, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals will fractionate human plasma containing antibodies to the rabies virus at its Boca Raton, Florida, manufacturing facility and ship the partially manufactured product to Sanofi Pasteur for completion of production at its manufacturing facility in Lyon, France. The majority of human plasma used for the production of Imogam Rabies-HT is collected by Nabi Biopharmaceuticals at its antibody collection centers in the United States.
The manufacturing agreement will allow Sanofi Pasteur to streamline the production process for Imogam Rabies-HT and allows Nabi Biopharmaceuticals to use capacity in its Boca Raton manufacturing facility, providing a seamless process from plasma collection to processing, resulting in improved production and shipping efficiency. Financial terms were not disclosed. Nabi Biopharmaceuticals expects to begin manufacturing under this agreement in the second half of 2006.
Imogam Rabies-HT is used in combination with a rabies vaccine to prevent infection caused by exposure to the rabies virus in people who have never been vaccinated against rabies. Although rabies among humans is rare in the United States, an estimated 40,000 individuals receive a post-exposure prevention treatment each year.
Raafat Fahim, Ph.D., sr. vice president, research, technical and production operations, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, stated, "This agreement not only validates our expertise as a top provider of high-quality antibody plasma products and our deep experience in manufacturing, but it also advances our important goal to increase the cash return from our specialized operating assets. This new relationship expands our contract manufacturing business and further improves the efficiency of our strategic plasma-based products business. We are delighted to be collaborating with such an esteemed biologicals company as Sanofi Pasteur and are pleased that they have entrusted the manufacturing of this product to our company."
About Rabies
Rabies is an acute viral disease that attacks the body's central nervous system. Rabies is carried in the saliva of animals and is most commonly transmitted through bites by an infected animal. Unless treated, rabies is almost always fatal.
About Nabi Biopharmaceuticals
Nabi Biopharmaceuticals leverages its experience and knowledge in powering the immune system to develop and market products that fight serious medical conditions. The company has three products on the market today: PhosLo® (calcium acetate), Nabi-HB® [Hepatitis B Immune Globulin (Human)], and Aloprim(TM) (allopurinol sodium) for Injection. Nabi Biopharmaceuticals is focused on developing products that address unmet medical needs and offer commercial opportunities in our core business areas: Gram-positive bacterial infections, hepatitis and transplant, kidney disease (nephrology) and nicotine addiction. For a complete list of pipeline products, please go to: http://www.nabi.com/pipeline/index.php . The company is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. For additional information about Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, please visit our website: http://www.nabi.com .
Statements in this press release about the company that are not strictly historical are forward-looking statements and include statements about our products in development, the market for such products, clinical trials and studies, intellectual property position, and alliances and partnerships. You can identify these forward-looking statements because they involve our expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, or other characterizations of future events or circumstances. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward- looking statements as a result of any number of factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, risks relating to the company's ability to advance the development of products currently in the pipeline or in clinical trials; maintain the human and financial resources to commercialize current products and bring to market products in development; obtain regulatory approval for its products in the U.S., Europe or other markets; successfully develop, manufacture and market its products; realize future sales growth for its biopharmaceutical products; secure patent positions and prevail in patent litigation; raise additional capital on acceptable terms; and re-pay its outstanding convertible senior notes when due. Many of these factors are more fully discussed, as are other factors, in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2005 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Source: Nabi Biopharmaceuticals