Contract award may end dispute with EBS - Los Angeles Business from bizjournals:

http://kusorew.comyr.com/
The Department of Health and Humam Services has awardedof Meriden, a $35 million contract to create seasonalo and pandemic flu vaccines based on its new development That contract could be extendexd for up to five years and $147 millioj in total value. Emergent BioSolutions said it hopes Proteihn Sciences uses that new revenue source to pay off anoutstanding $10 millionm loan to the smaller company, made to keep Proteimn Sciences’ operations going so Emergent could ultimately purchases it this time last year for up to $78 But those acquisition plans quickly fell apart, resulting in both companiess accusing the other of breaching the contract.
Emergentr sued Protein Sciences for fraud and breacgh of contract last year in the firstg of twolawsuits it’s filed againsty the Connecticut company. The second, filefd earlier this month, was to seize all of Protein assets as collateral forthe $10 million loan, for which Emergenrt said in a filin g it had given two extensions for repayment, one in Januaryh and the other at the end of May. “I’ hopeful that this [HHS contract] will enable PSC to pay us saidDaniel Abdun-Nabi, president of Emergent EBS).
“They haven’t come forward with an offer to pay us back at this But Protein Sciences executives said theier investors had offered twice to repay theoutstandingb loan, but Emergent never responded. “Our investorz have offered Emergent to be paid off in the last coupls of months on at least twodifferent occasions, where Emergent didn’t give any feedback,” said Manon Cox, chieff operating officer for Proteih Sciences, which she said is with the new federal contract. “Therer is money available to pay them Theyjust haven’t accepted it.” Abdun-Nabi says that statementr is untrue.
“If they have an offef that they canshow [us] to pay us, in full in that would be terrific,” he “We haven’t seen that Emergent said if Protein Sciencexs were to repay the loan, which is now more than $10 millio with interest, it would drop its initial lawsuirt and move on. The procesws had delayed the HHS contract award by roughlyg a year as the federal agency determined how the situatiom would play out and whether it would leavde Protein Sciences with the means to fulfill thecontractt terms.
Under the contract, the companyg would need to fund the initial development work itselrf and then submit invoices to the federal government tobe “We had to do several financial audits last of Protein Sciences before awardin g the contract, said Robin Robinson, director of the Biomedicakl Advanced Research Development Authority, the HHS divisionb that awarded the contract. “W have been aware for almost a year of a possible While Protein Sciences claimws that the local company attempted to block that Robinson said Emergent never spoke to him or the agencu about thepotential Abdun-Nabi also said his company has no controol over the federal contracting process.
Earlier this week, Emergent ventured down yet another legao route to win backits money. It was one of thre e creditors to file a bankruptcy petition for Protein asking the court to relieve the Connecticut company of its currentr management and replace thoss executives with anindependent trustee. In that bankruptcu filing, which calls for a liquidation and auctiomn ofthe company’s assets, Emergent said it’s owed $11.
5 million, considerably more than the other two petitioningg creditors who are owed $161,000 and The federal agency awarded Protei Sciences the contract to further develop its FluBlok seasonaol flu vaccine — a product in late-stagr testing that had been of interes to Emergent when it offered to buy Protein Sciencew — as well as a new vaccine treatment in development for the swinse flu.