As part of the deal, both the firms will jointly work to develop an adjuvanted non-alum based rPA vaccine.
The deal provides PharmAthene exclusive worldwide rights to use Immunovaccine’s DepoVax to develop and commercialize the new single dose anthrax vaccine.
Immunovacine chief executive officer Marc Mansour said: "This type of strategic partnership will allow us to capitalize on the broad potential of the DepoVax platform in infectious disease while advancing core opportunities for DepoVax in immuno-oncology.
"This collaboration with PharmAthene has the potential for efficient and rapid development of a best-in-class anthrax vaccine.
"PharmAthene’s rPA has been studied in over 700 patients with established manufacturing processes and proven development assays and technologies."
Immunovaccine will receive annual payments of $200,000, up to $8m for the achievement of development, US and international regulatory milestones, and initial product sales, and up to $42m for the achievement of certain sales targets for a total of up to $50m if all milestones are achieved.
In addition, Immunovaccine will receive a royalty on net sales and will not be responsible for product development costs.
Immunovacine’s DepoVax platform is flexible and can be used with a broad range of target antigens for preventative or therapeutic applications.