Emergent BioSolutions has inked a deal to buy 25-year-old Protein Sciences for $75 million or more. Protein Sciences has been developing a new flu vaccine, FluBlok, relying on a new method that grows a virus in cells from caterpillars--one of a number of new cellular programs that are aiming at replacing the egg-based approach employed now. Emergent sells an anthrax vaccine and is looking to build a manufacturing facility for the flu vaccine.

"Meriden (Connecticut) is under active consideration for expanded manufacturing as we work to build on the infrastructure that is now in place," Tracey Schmitt, an Emergent spokeswoman, told the Hartford Courant. "We expect to launch FluBlok and to expand production capacity from the Meriden site and to retain all of the approximately 50 employees currently at that location."

- check out Emergent's release [1]
- read the report [2] in the Hartford Courant
- read the story [3] in the Washington Post

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