Rapid Micro Biosystems announced that it has signed a contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for the development of rapid sterility testing for vaccines as part of the Innovative Platform Technologies program of BARDA’s Strategic Science and Technology Division. Under the terms of the agreement, Rapid Micro Biosystems will receive $2.2 million in the first contract year and up to an additional $4.5 million in two option years, for a total contract value of $6.7 million.
"We are pleased to be awarded this contract by BARDA," said Steve Delity, Chief Executive Officer of Rapid Micro Biosystems. "Rapid Micro is the leader in automated rapid detection, and we look forward to working closely with BARDA to develop a solution to help with pandemic response." Reducing the time-to-release of vaccines or other biopharmaceutical countermeasures will facilitate prevention and control of epidemic diseases like influenza, other emerging infections and agents of bioterrorism. Faster microbiological quality control (QC) testing will reduce the release cycle of vaccines by as much as two to four weeks. This time decrease will save countless lives by accelerating the release of safe product to the public in the event of a pandemic or bioterrorism attack.