SRI wins lucrative Pentagon contract

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Mar 21, 2007 | by Steve JohnsonSTAFF

SRI International of Menlo Park announced Tuesday that it has won a Pentagon contract potentially worth up to $85 million to make a drug soldiers could use to ward off the effects of deadly nerve agents.

Under the Defense Department contract, SRI plans to develop and manufacture 90,000 doses of a chemically based drug. The drug is expected to be effective only when administered prior to exposure with nerve agents. Soldiers would take it daily as long as they were in areas deemed high risks for nerve-agent attacks, said Robert Wilson, who directs SRI International's chemical science and technology laboratory.

SRI gets slightly more than half its revenue from the Defense Department, but also does research for a variety of other federal agencies and private companies. Over the years, it has helped develop more than 100 drugs for its customers.

Wilson said he couldn't reveal how much money SRI initially would receive under the contract. But if certain development goals are met, he said, SRI could be paid up to $85 million over the 10 years it is expected to take to deliver the drugs to the military.

"This is a really important program for us and we're very excited about the opportunity to help protect soldiers," Wilson said.

Wilson added, however, that SRI's contract could get canceled. He said the Pentagon is issuing a competitive contract to PharmAthene Inc. of Maryland to make a biologically based drug to protect against nerve agents.

After initial tests are completed on both drugs over the next two to three years, the Defense Department is expected to choose the most promising one for further development.

Because SRI plans to subcontract with companies outside of California to test the drug against nerve agents, no deadly nerve toxins will be stored at the organization's Menlo Park facilities, Wilson said. Ash Stevens, a Detroit company, would manufacture the doses.

The Pentagon already has a drug -- pyridostigmine bromide -- that shields soldiers against at least one type of nerve agent, Soman. First approved for use in 1955, pyridostigmine bromide can cause unpleasant side effects, including diarrhea, headaches, dizziness and shortness of breath, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Wilson said SRI hopes its drug proves safer and more effective.