Hawaii BioTech Once Again Moves Closer To Having A Commercially Ready West Nile Vaccine For Merck To [Re-Re-] Acquire(!)

. . .Although this time around, the openly published hint -- from the Hawaii BioTech CEO, Dr. Elliot Parks -- is that Pfizer could win the bidding. Moreover, either pharma elephant ought to act more like a partner, than a purchaser, to win the day, when the FDA does finally clear its current West Nile vaccine candidate, according to Dr. Parks.

It seems that the tiny island based company has the only West Nile candidate in clinical trials, at the moment. So it is in an enviable lead position -- and clear and away so -- should there be a West Nile outbreak in 2015 (and perhaps well beyond -- into 2018). [Editorial side-car, here: That he can round-trip his IP virtually at will is emblematic of his demonstrated record of creating powerful vaccines, and his more general scientific prowess -- in the field.

He is usually (experience speaking here) the smartest egg in the room, when it comes to such vaccines. And so, he can reel the pharma majors in and out -- as he is doing in the below interview, toying with the journalist to gently make a point with "the nation's medicine chest".]

You may recall that in April 2013, we reported that Merck had returned much of this same intellectual property to Hawaii BioTech, as Whitehouse Station narrowed its own vaccine R&D focus. It would seem the Merck would now rather "buy" than "make" -- for such vaccines -- waiting for an outbreak, or near outbreak, to wade in, and acquire biologic inventory here.

You may also recall that it is at least partially accurate to suggest that Hawaii BioTech's 2010 Chapter 11 bankruptcy might be explained by over-bearing large bulk vaccine acquiror behaviors. [Merck plainly included, here.]

Thus it makes great sense that the CEO would (now in 2014) be appealing for more brotherly (and sisterly) behavior from the pharma majors -- given his experiences with the earlier dengue vaccine marketing machinations. Here is a bit from an overnight Pacific Business News feed -- do go read it all:

. . . .Hawaii BioTech [scientists]. . . think that the next major outbreak of the West Nile Virus could happen next year, and when and if that happens, the Aiea-based firm will be positioned to help put out this deadly virus, its CEO, Dr. Elliot Parks said. . . .

After the trials are completed, Parks said that the next step is marketing Hawaii Biotech's vaccine to drug companies such as Merck & Co. and Pfizer.

Hawaii Biotech did a similar transaction in 2012, with Merck purchasing its dengue fever vaccine, although Parks said that this time around, his firm would like to form more of a partnership instead of just a straight acquisition. . . .

So we shall wait and see -- but these sorts of medical/biologic wunderkinds don't appear every dang dynasty -- and so they usually get to call the shots, with major pharma, dancing right along, in time. Fox-trot, anyone? Anyone? Anyone? Happy April Fools, now ending. . .

More Vaccine Patent Tech Acquired By Hawaii BioTech, Inc., From Merck Subsidiary

Back in July of 2010, Merck's R&D sub acquired some developmental dengue vaccine tech out of this company, while it was reorganizing under the protection of the federal bankruptcy laws. Then, in November of 2011, likely as part of the rationalization of MRL's R&D efforts, Merck returned some previously-acquired tick-borne encephalitis vaccine tech to Hawaii BioTech.

Yesterday, local Hawiian papers reported that the company had acquired (or re-acquired?) more vaccine patents from a Merck subsidiary -- including patents related to producing a West Nile Virus vaccine. Of course, the financial terms weren't disclosed, which means that they are definitively tiny, as to Merck, at least.

It is interesting though, that Merck is apparently scaling back in these arenas. I would hazard a guess that these three vaccines (primarily sold in the developing world) will not ultimately be high-enough gross margin products, to clear New Merck's hurdle rates. And Hawaii is deep into this tech already -- so it can survive on much thinner margins that mother Merck might require/command.

In any event, here is a bit of the local report -- do go read it all:

. . . .Hawaii Biotech, Inc. said Thursday that it has acquired a patent family to West Nile virus vaccine technology from Merck & Co. that will allow the Aiea-based biotech company to continue develop its own vaccine for the virus. . . .

We will keep an eye on Merck's developing world vaccine program -- but Whitehouse Station has earned vast legacy reputational and "good karma" credit for providing perhaps $4 billion worth of river blindness tablets to Latin America and Africa over the past two decades -- essentially free of charge.

Let's not forget that.