Link without paywall: https://removepaywalls.com/4/https://thedailyrecord.com/2020/06/18/how-emergent-biosolutions-became-the-us-go-to-biodefense-contractor/

2020 article about a small Biodefense company with a very shady history and multiple government contracts.

Emergent has long been the government’s sole provider of BioThrax, a vaccine for anthrax poisoning. But over the past decade, the company has acquired biodefense competitors and treatments for smallpox, botulism and other threats for which there is no market outside of government.

Now, Emergent is the only maker of multiple drugs the government deems crucial for the Strategic National Stockpile, and the government is the company’s primary customer, accounting for most of its revenue, according to interviews with current and former government and company officials as well as government and corporate records.

A Washington Post examination found that Emergent’s strategy has been rewarded with a series of large contracts as the Trump administration focused on biodefense over preparations for a natural pandemic. But Emergent’s dominance has fueled new risks for national health preparedness, according to documents and former government officials.

The industry consolidation has created “vulnerabilities in the supply chain,” while also raising the prospect of inflated costs because of a lack of competition, according to a confidential report obtained by The Post. The report, commissioned by the HHS preparedness office to assess its relationship with private industry, cited Emergent as a primary example of increased concentration in the supply of “medical countermeasures,” or MCMs, such as vaccines.