Emergent accuses biotech execs of wrecking buyout pact

Rockville, MD-based Emergent BioSolutions has filed suit against Protein Sciences, saying the vaccine developer never planned to follow through on a planned $75 million acquisition agreement. According to Emergent's claim, the top executives of Protein Sciences ridiculed the deal after it was announced and only really wanted $10 million in bridge financing that came with the pact so it could pursue other options. Protein Sciences' Daniel D. Adams and Manon M.J. Cox were singled out in the lawsuit.

"I'm very surprised and disappointed by the actions of Emergent," Cox told the Washington Post. "The way things are going, perhaps it's better in principle if the companies go their own ways."

Protein Sciences is in the final stages of the approval process for its FluBlock vaccine, which is grown in insect cells rather than the traditional egg-based manufacturing approach.

- read the article in the Washington Post

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