U.S. Seeks Massive Stock of Smallpox Vaccine

LONDON (Reuters) - The United States has issued a tender for up to 80 million doses of a smallpox vaccine to guard against terrorist attack, worth over $1 billion, vaccine makers said on Tuesday.

The United States has been building vaccine stocks ever since the discovery of anthrax spores in its mail system in 2001 sparked fears of a major bioterrorist assault.

"The U.S. government plans to procure a stockpile of MVA as part of its defense against the threat of smallpox virus being used as a bioterrorist weapon," Britain's Acambis said of its weakened MVA vaccine.

The weakened version of Acambis' smallpox vaccine is designed for the elderly, patients with immune disorders or those with skin conditions such as eczema.

Acambis said the U.S. tender was for 20 million doses of the weakened MVA vaccine in the first two years, with the option of a further 60 million doses later on.

The United States has already stockpiled more than 180 million doses of full-strength vaccine against smallpox, seen as one of the deadliest biological agents that terrorists could unleash.

The highly contagious virus killed untold millions until officially eradicated in 1979. Small stocks of the virus have been kept in laboratories, and the United States fears that some have been sold on the black market.

Thirty percent of victims die and the rest are scarred for life by skin ulcers and pustules.

Acambis is co-developing the MVA vaccine with U.S. firm Baxter Healthcare.