The Emergent BioSolutions vaccine plant located in Baltimore was shut down by FDA in mid-April of this year for deviations from accepted good manufacturing practices.  The plant is now under the control of J & J and appropriate corrective action has been implemented. The management of Emergent have announced a loss of $41.5 million from discarded vaccine and the need to spend $12 million on upgrades to the facility.

Emergent is the target of shareholder lawsuits and concurrent investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice, and state Attorneys General in Maryland and New York.  There is also a question relating to release and export of vaccines to Canada and Mexico without regularity inspection.

The Company faces calls for a review of the circumstances leading to a $628 million government contract to manufacture anthrax vaccine, a product unique to the company, for the federal stockpile.