Cellerant Wins $63.3M BARDA Contract for Radiation Drug.

Washington Editor

WASHINGTON u Cellerant Therapeutics Inc. won a two-year $63.3 million contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to further develop its investigational cellular therapy CLT-008 as a treatment for acute radiation syndrome (ARS), with the ultimate goal of including the drug in the Strategic National Stockpile.

The cost-plus-fixed-fee BARDA contract, which could be expanded for an additional $89.9 million for a total of $153.2 million over five years, will cover substantial costs of developing CLT-008 through to licensure, including manufacturing scale-up, expanded human safety trials and animal effectiveness studies, noted CEO Ram Mandalam.

The contract award was in response to a request for proposal BARDA issued in March 2009, he explained.

The new …