Defense officials announced the project Friday and said Pentagon scientists will collaborate with military biologists from Canada, Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

"Under this agreement, the three nations will work together to develop and produce a plague vaccine that will ultimately be licensed for human use," the Pentagon announcement said.

The United States and the United Kingdom have operated separate plague vaccine development programs for more than five years. In 2000, both countries and Canada signed a memorandum of understanding to share vaccine development information.

Last year, Congress passed Project Bioshield, with $6 billion in federal funding designed to spur private companies to develop vaccines and treatments for dangerous biological weapons. Experts and former government officials have said, however, that the program is falling short of its goals.

Officials have proposed a Project Bioshield II program to generate more industry initiatives, but most biological defense research is still in the hands of the federal government.

Defense officials plan to test the two plague vaccines currently in development and select one to receive additional attention and resources. The vaccine that is being researched in the United States was developed by the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Researchers began testing the vaccine early this year at the University of Kentucky.

The British plague vaccine candidate is expected to begin testing in the United States in late 2005 under guidelines set out by the Food and Drug Administration. After results are in from those tests, officials will determine which vaccine to continue developing.

May 10, 2005 (CIDRAP News) – Federal health officials yesterday announced 12 grants and contracts worth $27 million to support development of drugs and vaccines for botulism, anthrax, and other diseases that terrorists might try to spread.

The grants are the first made by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under Project Bioshield, which Congress enacted last year to promote research on medical defenses against biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear weapons.