Anthrax Vaccine Contract Voided, Thwarting Administration

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

Federal health officials yesterday scuttled the largest piece of the Bush administration's two-year program to counter bioterrorism, canceling an $877.5 million contract with VaxGen to develop an anthrax vaccine after the company missed a deadline to begin human testing.

The decision, delivered in a one-page letter, ends a troubled effort by the small California firm that has come to symbolize the failures of the government's ambitious $5.6 billion Project BioShield. The termination occurred on the same day President Bush signed legislation attempting to salvage the program by reorganizing its management and pumping more money into firms doing the work.

"It's very disappointing that they took such aggressive and dramatic action without engaging in a discussion with us about potential ways for salvaging all the work that has gone into this program," said Lance Ignon, VaxGen's vice president of corporate affairs. "We believe there is a high probability that this technology would lead to a modern anthrax vaccine."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/19/AR2006121901689.html?nav=rss_email/components

hmmmm

[whistle]

1. This is not one of Donald Rumsfeld's companies is it?

...Think there might be corporate looting of ideas and secrets going on?