Britain's Powderject Pharmaceuticals Plc said today it had restarted production of its smallpox vaccine and raised output of its anthrax jab in response to fears of germ warfare.
Manufacturers stopped making the smallpox vaccine in the 1980s when health officials declared the killer disease was beaten, and the likelihood of contracting anthrax in peacetime was considered a remote possibility by governments.
But the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington and the discovery of anthrax spores in the US mail have heightened concerns that rogue states or extremist groups could get their hands on the lethal smallpox virus from Soviet stockpiles built up during the Cold War.
Chief Executive Paul Drayson told Reutersthat Powderject was making the anthrax vaccine in collaboration with British government scientists. The jabs were being supplied to the British armed forces, he added, but gave no further details.
"We have manufactured the anthrax vaccine for some years in Liverpool, and in the past we manufactured the smallpox vaccine in Liverpool and in Stockholm. We are now restarting smallpox vaccine manufacture in Liverpool," Mr Drayson said.
Asked whether the firm had increased production of anthrax vaccine, he replied: "Yes."
He would not say whether Powderject had begun making the smallpox vaccine once more at the request of the British government. Nor would he give details of the quantities of vaccine Powderject was producing.