PharmAthene: anthrax vaccine met stability goal

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- PharmAthene Inc. said Tuesday its experimental anthrax vaccine SparVax met an important goal in clinical testing, as a study showed the vaccine is stable when stored for up to three years.The company said the 36-month stability result is an important milestone in its research contract with the U.S. government, and it said similar vaccines have had problems demonstrating stability.PharmAthene said SparVax is a recombinant vaccine that is made through a simpler, more efficient process than the only currently approved anthrax vaccine, Emergent BioSolutions Inc.'s BioThrax. The company says it would be able to make 150 million doses of SparVax in a year, if necessary. PharmAthene is developing the vaccine with funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a unit of the Department of Health and Human Services.Shares of PharmAthene rose 9 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $3.04 in afternoon trading.