Powderject to cut shelf-life for TB jab

Powderject, the vaccines company being stalked by a US predator, is likely to be forced to reduce the shelf-life of its tuberculosis jab in order to get the product back on the market.

The BCG vaccine was withdrawn in August after regulators found some batches lost strength before their best-before date, calling into question the company's manufacturing techniques.

The group's high-profile founder and chairman, Paul Drayson, is expected to say tomorrow that while the group has identified the areas of its manufacturing processes requiring improvement, it is not yet close to solving the problem.

It will promise investment in plant and machinery to enable the reintroduction of the vaccine, whose withdrawal is costing the company £5m in lost profits this year. PowderJect is expected to reiterate that it does not expect the vaccine to be back on the market before its financial year-end, which is in March.

The reduced shelf life would be a blow to the company because it will remove the product's big advantage over rivals' tuberculosis vaccines. These typically have 18-month shelf lives, whereas Powderject's TB jab was claimed to keep for three years. Mr Drayson said: "It has always been a bit of an anomalous situation anyway, because we are double what the competition offers."

Powderject was criticised for allegedly failing to provide the market with timely price sensitive information as the BCG jab was recalled, although it maintained it made its announcement as soon as the scale of the problem became clear.

The company has been mired in controversy since it emerged Mr Drayson had given £5,000 to the Labour Party just weeks before his company won a £32m contract to supply the Government with smallpox vaccine to be used in the event of a bioterrorist attack.

Interim results tomorrow will be scrutinised most closely by Chiron, the US biotech company which has indicated it is considering a £450m bid for PowderJect. The prospects for an auction of the Oxford-based company have taken a knock since it announced last month that it has received three tentative bid approaches. Shire Pharmaceuticals is now thought unlikely to make a formal offer.