ILA added to a coalition of companies which includes multi billion dollar big pharma companies.
Our 2025 biotech Pick Of The Year Island Pharmaceuticals (ASX: ILA) has just been added to the Medical Countermeasures Coalition (MC2).
MC2 is a group made up of non-profits, universities, drug developers and manufacturers to strengthen medical supply chains and safeguard public health globally.
The group includes major biotech companies including:
- SIGA Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SIGA), capped at $640M
- Bavarian Nordic A/S (BAVA.CO), capped at $3.4BN
- Ginkgo BioWorks Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DNA), capped at $760M
- CSL Seqirus (part of ASX: CSL), CSL capped at $89BN
- Genentech (part of Roche Group, SWX: ROG), Roche Group capped at $425BN
Here is a picture from today's announcement with ILA included on a conference poster which we have highlighted:
(Source)
This also follows on soon after the appointment of Washington DC based government affairs firm Todd Strategy Group (TSG) who will be helping to accelerate US government engagement which we covered here.
The reason we liked today’s announcement was because ILA now joins a group of companies who have been there and done that when it comes to commercialising drugs and receiving US stockpiling contracts.
For example Siga Technologies is on the list of companies that have received US stockpiling contracts for their Smallpox drug to the tune of A$850M+ (and still growing)...
(Source)
ILA is looking to get approvals for its Marburg disease drug and follow a similar pathway to US stockpiling contracts as the companies on the list above…
ILA is looking to develop Galidesivir as an antiviral drug aimed at treating Marburg disease.
Marburg virus is classified as a Category A bioterrorism threat (the highest level threat) by the US government (source).
Marburg is the only Category A biothreat with no current vaccine or FDA approved treatment…
It's also one of the most deadly with a fatality rate up to 88%.
It’s classified as a biothreat because it can be weaponised (and it was part of the soviet bioweapons program in the 80’s,(source, source).
ILA is going for approvals on the drug via a fast tracked “Animal Rule” approvals pathway - which is basically where biotech’s can seek FDA approvals for really deadly diseases on animal trials alone.
(Cutting out the 10-15 years of human trials needed for most drugs).
Last Monday ILA released that it had received approvals to utilise the “Animal Rule” pathway and is now seeking FDA feedback on a trial design before submissions for approvals…
We covered that in an article where we named - ILA: Our Biotech Pick of the Year
Approvals for ILA (potentially inside the next 12-18 months) could unlock:
- A Priority Review Voucher (PRV) that comes in if ILA’s Galidesivir is FDA approved - these can be worth on average ~US$150M.
- US Government national stockpiling deals - these can be worth anything between US$100M to US$1.2BN ANNUALLY
What’s next for ILA in the next ~6 months
Last week: ILA confirmed Animal Rule eligibility for its Marburg drug ✅
NEXT: FDA confirms to ILA the use of the Animal Rule for its Marbourg disease treatment and PRV voucher eligibility successful.
NEXT: Commence animal trial for deadly Marburg disease. Here are the milestones we will be tracking for the animal study:
- 🔲 Clinical trial design completed
- 🔲 Clinical trial starts
- 🔲 Clinical trial completed
- 🔲 Clinical trial results
NEXT: (Assuming results are good) Submit to FDA for commercial approval and access to Priority Review Voucher
