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:rofl:
If you read the article linked from the Buzz Flash post about the company it sounds like one of those fake shell companies set up by Duke Cunningham and Brent Wilkes. All "Ideas and No Viable Product."
Reading this article doesn't take long to figure that something's very odd with this company and the contracts...
Also the sponsors of it in the House...sadly both Democrats....
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San Diego's Hollis-Eden says it met requirements
By Terri Somers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 8, 2007
The federal government told Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals yesterday that it has decided not to buy and stockpile an experimental radiation-sickness drug the San Diego company is developing.
In a brief document sent to the company, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it was calling off its search for the radiation-sickness drugs it had planned to acquire under Project BioShield.
The government's decision left at least one member of a congressional homeland security committee questioning the future of the project, a $5.6 billion government program to buy and stockpile treatments that would be used in the event of a terrorist attack with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
“It seems as though HHS has dropped the ball,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security. “By canceling this (request for proposals), the future of Project BioShield remains uncertain.”
According to the department, the government solicitation was canceled because none of the companies that responded met the requirements.
However, Hollis-Eden said it met all the requirements it could obtain from the department and had been told for months that its proposal was in the “competitive range.”
“This comes as a complete surprise to us,” said Richard Hollis, founder and chairman of the company. “We've been the lead candidate all along and developing this with the Department of Defense. When other companies were getting disqualified for technical issues, we were always told that we met or exceeded the requirements of the (request for proposal).”
The government was originally supposed to award contracts for a radiation treatment in June 2006. But that award date was extended four times, with the last deadline set for yesterday.
Hollis-Eden has been a sort of corporate guinea pig for Project BioShield. Hollis and other company executives have been very vocal in pushing the government to explain the rules and procedures it would use for buying and stockpiling the drugs.
The tiny, money-losing company, which has no approved products, began developing Neumune shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
In February 2006, the company was featured in a “60 Minutes” story critical of U.S. nuclear preparedness under Project BioShield. It featured interviews with politicians and Defense Department officials who endorsed Neumune.
Many radiation victims not killed by a nuclear blast would die from lethal infections and internal bleeding. Neumune, packaged as a self-administered injectable, aims to restore infection-fighting white blood cells and platelets, which would keep patients from hemorrhaging.
Defense Department researchers endorsed the potential drug, saying it was the most advanced and promising compound for fighting radiation sickness.
BioShield is supposed to provide a market for drugs such as Neumune, for which there otherwise would not be a market in the absence of an attack. The revenue from a BioShield contract would give the companies the funding and incentive they needed to manufacture the drugs.
Many Wall Street analysts, who considered Hollis-Eden a major contender for a BioShield contract, had originally expected the government to buy up to 10 million doses.
But in October 2005, when the department finally issued its request for proposals, it was interested in buying enough doses to treat 20,000 military and 1,000,000 civilian casualties.
That was the first blow to send shares of Hollis-Eden tumbling as much as 38 percent to $6.39.
When word of the government's decision came out yesterday just before markets closed, the stock fell to $4.28 – about 20 percent below Tuesday's closing price of $5.39.
The stock kept falling, reaching $3.59 in extended trading.
“This is disappointing for our employees, who have been so dedicated to this project for the past few years, and disappointing to investors, who invested believing there was a market for this drug,” Hollis said. “Just as importantly, it's disappointing for American citizens because weapons of mass destruction would not be targeted against the military, but against civilians, who this is intended to offer protection.”
This is a setback, but not a lethal one for the company, Hollis said.
Hollis-Eden had not been expecting revenue from BioShield until the end of the year or beginning of 2008, Hollis said.
This year, the company is set to begin enrolling patients in clinical trials testing the drug's effectiveness in combating drug-resistant infections, he said. The company also plans to file an application this month seeking to begin trials for a type 2 diabetes therapy, and it is pursuing therapies for rheumatoid arthritis, prostate cancer and breast cancer, he said.
“So we have five indications with multiple molecules that we are now moving through the pipeline that offer much more significant opportunities,” Hollis said.
Meanwhile, he plans to follow up with the department for more explanation about the request-for-proposals cancellation and continue to push for the contract.
Rodman & Renshaw analyst Navdeep Jaikaria said he did not think this was a big blow for the company, as "it would have been a small contract, in our opinion, to begin with."
Rodman & Renshaw has an investment-banking relationship with the company.
The San Diego company is not alone in its disappointment with the Department of Health and Human Services decision.
Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology, said hearings on the department's actions with regard to BioShield would be held next month.
Hollis-Eden executives have previously testified before Congress about Project BioShield and bioterror preparedness.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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