Chimerix Wins $17M Award For Development Of Smallpox Treatment
By C. Rajan, contributing writer
Chimerix last week announced that it has extended its contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for the development of its broad spectrum antiviral brincidofovir to treat smallpox infections. The extension of this contract also brought with it a $17M award to help push the drug’s development forward.
The BARDA, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, supports the development of various therapies for public health medical emergencies. Chimerix received the initial award from BARDA in February 2011, which was used to support early research and development of brincidofovir in animal models of smallpox.
As Brincidofovir has since demonstrated efficacy in animal models of orthopox virus disease, the company’s contract became eligible for extension. This current contract extension provides Chimerix with $17 million for a period of 15 months, which will be used to support the upcoming Phase 3 trials on smallpox infections in the upcoming months.
Michelle Berrey, MD, MPH, President, CEO and CMO of Chimerix, said, "We are pleased to announce the continued development of brincidofovir with our partners at BARDA. If positive, data from these animal studies will support Chimerix's regulatory submission for brincidofovir for the treatment of smallpox, which could potentially allow brincidofovir to become the first medicine approved in this area of high unmet need."
Chimerix is a North Carolina based biopharmaceutical company which is developing novel, oral antivirals. Brincidofovir is the company's lead product candidate, and it has already shown several promising results in recent clinical trials. Chimerix announced last week that brincidofovir demonstrated in vitro activity against the Ebola virus following testing at the Viral Special Pathogens Branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Additional testing of brincidofovir in animal model studies is underway at the CDC and NIH.
In July, Chimerix presented very positive data supporting brincidofovir's antiviral activity and safety profile in hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) and solid organ transplant recipients who were treated for several different viral infections.
Brincidofovir (BCV, CMX001) is an oral nucleotide analog which shows broad-spectrum antiviral activity against all five families of DNA viruses including herpes, adenovirus (AdV), and orthopox viruses, including smallpox. The antiviral is in several clinical trials for different indications, including the Phase 3 SUPPRESS trial initiated for the prevention of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections in adult HCT recipients, and a Phase 3 trial for treatment of often-fatal AdV infections which have no approved treatment.
Brincidofovir has already received FDA fast track designation for smallpox, CMV, and AdV infections.