Smallpox vaccine from party donor's firm 'is less effective than its rival'

The controversy over the Government's £32m smallpox vaccine contract with a Labour donor reignited last night when new research showed ministers may have bought the wrong drug.

A senior Labour MP called for an urgent explanation from the Department of Health after the respected American Potomac Institute concluded the Lister strain of the vaccine was not as effective against biological warfare as a rival strain.

The Government drew criticism earlier this year for awarding an exclusive contract to Powderject, a firm owned by Paul Drayson, who had donated £100,000 to the Labour Party.

The National Security Health Policy Centre (NSHPC) at the Potomac Institute has found that a New York City Board of Health strain of the smallpox vaccine is more effective than the Lister strain in combating bioterrorism.

While both strains had their merits, the New York version produced "spectacular results". The US Government has opted for the rival strain in a £278m deal with Acambis, a British firm from Cambridge.

Ian Gibson, MP for Norwich North and chairman of the Commons Science Select Committee, said: "I am concerned that if there was an attack, would our vaccine be effective against the particular strain used? This new evidence suggests that we may be barking up the wrong tree.

"We want to have effective vaccines and it is not clear that we have at the moment. But if you look at the most likely bug a terrorist would use, it would be the one that has come from Soviet sources. The Government is very keen to use the Lister strain for whatever reason and I can't find any credible reason for that. It may not be good science."

The £32m contract, which was awarded to Powderject without the normal tendering process, is already being investigated by the National Audit Office. Ministers claimed at the time the company was the only one that could provide the particular type of vaccine it wanted at such short notice.

Downing Street claimed Department of Health officials spotted Dr Drayson was a Labour donor and referred the matter to a senior civil servant to approve the deal instead of ministers. Ministers claimed open bidding would have revealed sensitive details about its plans to defend Britain against a biological terrorist attack. The audit office is to be given access to all high security documents in the case.

Steve Prior, the research director of the NSHPC at the Potomac, worked for 15 years at Porton Down and is considered one of the world's leading experts on smallpox.

Dr Prior said last night: "Either they have information we don't have, which is surprising, or they know something we don't." He said that the comparison of the two strains "appears relevant to current concerns about the potential for a bioterrorist to obtain and release smallpox virus on an unprotected population".

His research, which is being peer reviewed and will be in scientific journals in the autumn, was the most comprehensive to date. While the Lister strain was used in Europe in a largely healthy population from the 1960s, the New York strain was used in the Third World and proved more efficient.