Fuad El-Hibri Organization

The Rockville, Md.-based company said Thursday it plans to sell two unused buildings and purchase a manufacturing facility and laboratory in Maryland.

The pending moves could free up space in Lansing for additional production of BioThrax, the only federally approved anthrax vaccine.

"From a strategic perspective, the new Maryland manufacturing facility broadens our options," CEO Fuad El-Hibri said. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Nearly 400 employees work for Emergent in Lansing. About 30 have been hired since the company announced plans to add up to 93 new hires as part of an expansion announced in March that included state tax incentives.

Emergent hopes to ramp up the nation's stockpile of doses for use in case of a biological terrorist attack.

"The government has previously stated they want a stockpile of at least 75 million doses. Our calculations would show the stockpile is way short of that," Chief Financial Officer Don Elsey said.

He wouldn't provide details on the stockpile's shortfall, but said the Department of Defense also draws from the supply.

Emergent currently makes the anthrax vaccine in a Lansing facility with a capacity for roughly 7 million doses a year, Elsey said.

In September, the company will start producing 14.5 million doses as part of a $405 million government contract for the national drug stockpile. It will take two years to complete the contract.

A new $75 million large-scale manufacturing plant in Lansing could handle an additional 30 million doses a year.

The building, completed last year, originally was slated to produce the next-generation anthrax vaccine once it received government approval. But Emergent now is proposing production of the new vaccine be moved to the new Maryland facility, allowing Lansing to make more BioThrax - something that also needs a government OK.