Sanofi Pasteur Paying Acambis $80 Million to Develop West Nile Vaccine

Sanofi pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis, has agreed to pay Acambis up to $80 million to develop and market a vaccine against the West Nile virus, which has become an endemic public health threat in the U.S. since the 1990s.

Under the exclusive global collaboration agreement, Acambis will continue to develop the vaccine, up to and including filing a license application in the U.S., in exchange for an upfront payment of $10 million and pre- and postmarketing milestone payments that could total up to $70 million.

The West Nile vaccine candidate is in a Phase II clinical trial in adults aged 41 and older. More than 98 percent of the healthy adult subjects in a previous Phase II trial developed specific antibodies in the serum 28 days after a single vaccination, and the safety profile of the vaccine was satisfactory, according to preliminary data.