In the United States and around the world, populations face a serious but unmet need for drugs to protect against potentially catastrophic emerging viral pathogens and biological weapons of mass destruction.

SIGA Technologies (SIGA) is a pharmaceutical company specializing in the development and commercialization of therapeutic solutions for some of the most lethal disease-causing pathogens in the world, including smallpox, Ebola, dengue, Lassa fever and other dangerous viruses.

SIGA reported that it has signed a contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to deliver two million courses of its smallpox antiviral, ST-246(R) (an oral therapeutic agent active against orthopoxviruses including smallpox), to the Strategic National Stockpile.

The 5-year base contract award is worth $433 million and includes options that would raise the contract’s total value to approximately $2.8 billion, if these options are fully exercised. Contract options include the delivery of up to 12 million additional courses of ST-246.