Fuad El-Hibri Blog
500 Most Influential Muslims: Science and Technology
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The Prince Alwaleed Bin Talaal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre published its first edition in what promises to be an annual series of insight into the movers and shakers of the Muslim world. Entitled The 500 Most Influential Muslims 2009, the book categorizes Muslims’ influential capacities into 15 categories: scholarly , political, administrative, lineage, preachers, women, youth, philanthropy, development, science and technology, arts and culture, Qu’ran reciters, media, radicals, international Islamic networks and issues of the day. As part of an ongoing series each week those receiving mention in North America will be highlighted. This week those who seem to have influence in Science and Technology will be highlighted. In this category, there are four people honored living in the United States.
Mohamad Chakaki is a founding member of Green Muslims, a Washington, D.C. group that seeks to relate sustainable environmental policy to faith. He works on projects in the US and the Middle East.
Fuad El Hibri is the CEO of Emergent BioSolutions, Inc. BioSolutions is a multinational bio-pharmaceutical company that is the sole-holder of the FDA-approved anthrax vaccine. He is also Chairman of the East West Resources Corporation and Chairman and Treasurer of the El Hibri Charitable Foundation.
Dr. Mehmet Oz is a cardiothoracic surgeon recently named one of the sexiest men alive for 2009. A frequent visitor of the Oprah Winfrey show and now host of his own show, he is a professor at Columbia University and leads numerous charities and organizations. He has authored several books on personal health.
Ahmed Zewail is the recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research on femotochemistry. He is the Linus Pauling Professor at the California Institute for Technology and was recently asked to serve at President Obama’s invitation as an adviser to the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
For more info: IBSN: 2009-9-4078
Tags: Business, El Hibri Charitable Foundation, Emergent BioSolutions, Fuad El-Hibri
Fuad el-Hibri, king of anthrax, wins an award from Ernst & Young
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Marie-José Daoud
Awarded the Ernst and Young prize for Entrepreneur of the year 2009 in the Technology category for the Greater Washington region last June, Fuad El-Hibri is the CEO of Emergent Biosolutions, an American company that supplies the anthrax vaccine to the American government. He is in line for the national E&Y 2009 prize, which will be awarded on November 14 in California
He is a tall, imposing and smiling man. He has the assurance of those who are proud of their career and the modesty of those who attribute their success to the staff around them. He has just won the Ernst and Young prize for Entrepreneur of the year 2009 in the Technology category for the Greater Washington region. This prize rewards over 15 years in the biopharmaceutical industry, ten of which have been dedicated to Emergent Biosolutions, the company that supplies the only anthrax vaccine approved by the American government’s powerful Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Fuad El-Hibri landed in biopharmaceuticals somewhat by chance and somewhat by interest. He defines himself as “an entrepreneur in spirit” and, before dedicating himself to biopharmaceuticals, he had already created and sold various telecommunications companies in Russia, Venezuela and El Salvador. In the early 90s, this German native, born to a Lebanese father and a German mother, and who had spent time in the banking industry (Citibank) and consultant (BoozAllen & Hamilton), joins Porton Product, a biotechnology company located in the United Kingdom. There he plays a predominant role in marketing and sales of biodefense vaccines to foreign governments. Hibri is, in particular, a key man behind the purchase by Saudi Arabia of anthrax vaccines during the first Gulf war. This is where he maintains he gained his insight into the magnitude of the need for medical solutions to combat bioterrorism. In 1994, he organized the buy-back of Porton Products by its managers, before reselling his shares in 1996 (the price is not known).
In 1998, an opportunity opened up for him to buy BioThrax in competitive bidding, the only anti-anthrax vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration, until then owned by the State of Michigan. So he creates BioPort, obtains American nationality . in 1999, wins the bidding (approximately 24 million dollars) and finds himself at the head of a company with 170 employees, and develops a product: BioThrax.
Hibri has in fact the advantage of a monopoly situation since he is the only supplier of the American government who buys millions of doses of BioThrax per year from him to vaccinate its servicemen and to maintain a stock in case of bioterrorist attack. A situation which fuels all the controversies, as proved by the frenzied comments posted on the Internet.
Once BioPort is consolidated, and to diversify his portfolio, Hibri buys several biotechnology companies. In 2003, BioPort buys Antex, an American company working on the development of a vaccine against chlamydia. In 2005, the company, which in the meantime has become Emergent Biosolutions, acquired Microscience, an English company which had invested in research on hepatitis B and typhoid. In 2006, it purchased VIVACS, a German company specialized in research on the influenza vaccine. In 2008, it does a joint venture with Oxford University (among others) to develop a vaccine against tuberculosis.
Today, Emergent is at the head of a developing portfolio of vaccines and treatments against seven diseases which could bring in “hundreds of millions of dollars per year” when the products are on the market, according to Hibri. Four of these should be on the market within four to seven years. Most of these products have the specific feature of only requiring two technologies that the company has: a technology for vaccines given orally and another for vaccines administered by injection. “Which leads to major synergies enabling substantial cost savings to be made,” explains Hibri. But Emergent is in direct competition with large pharmaceutical laboratories such as Sanofi, Novartis and Roche on the development of these treatments and vaccines, of more commercial use than BioThrax. Furthermore, even with anthrax, Emergent will probably have to face competition from other biotechnology laboratories, like PharmAthene and Cangene, who are currently in the development phase of vaccines and treatment against the bacterium. In the meantime, to meet increasing demand from the American government, and that of other foreign governments who fill out its client portfolio, Emergent has recently invested in its BioThrax production capacity: it has gone from a capacity of three million doses per year to eight million and is currently validating a new factory in Michigan which can produce up to 40 million doses per year.
Today, eleven years after acquiring BioThrax, the latter, still provides the bulk of the company’s turnover (178.6 million dollars in 2008), the other part coming from development contracts with the government and revenue granted by public or private funds.
Anthrax
Anthrax is an infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis.
Anthrax most commonly occurs in wild and domestic animals but it can also occur in humans when they are exposed to infected animals or tissue from infected animals.
The disease is transmitted by spores, or contaminated hide, but not from human to human. Cultivation of the bacterium and spores are relatively easy in a laboratory, which makes it an ideal biological weapon.
The company has 600 employees and has been quoted on the New York stock exchange since 2006, with a capitalization of 500 million dollars. Hibri, his family and his management staff keep control of the company with over half of the capital. Emergent has a presence in the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, China and Germany. And for seven years, between 2000 and 2007, it has experienced uninterrupted growth.
This is partially why the E&Y prize was awarded to Hibri. Other criteria were also taken into account: his ability to inspire his staff, who, he himself acknowledges are “dedicated and motivated”; and his philanthropic involvement in numerous charity organizations, among which the El-Hibri Charitable Foundation, created by his father, that among other things finances the Dar Al-Aytam orphanage in Lebanon.
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www.emergentbiosolutions.com
Emergent BioSolutions reacts to BARDA’s Request for Proposal cancellation
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by Nick Rees on December 8, 2009
The Office of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has advised Emergent BioSolutions that while BARDA’s Request for Proposal has been canceled, Emergent is encouraged to submit a proposal for the office’s Broad Agency Announcement.
BARDA canceled the RFP for the procurement for rPA vaccines after a technical evaluation panel determined that no proposals submitted by vaccine developers could meet the ProjectBioShield statutory requirement of having the product ready for licensure within eight years.
An amendment issued by BARDA to BAA 09-34 at the same time, however, enable companies to submit proposals to obtain development funding for rPA vaccine candidates, which Emergent has been strongly encouraged to do by BARDA.
Emergent plans to submit its proposal to the BAA by the end of this year, in front of the due date of February 1, 2010 for the proposals.
This announcement also does not impact Emergent’s $400 million procurement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to manufacture and deliver 14.5 million doses of BioThrax for the Strategic National Stockpile.
“With this action, BioThrax remains a critical and long-term countermeasure for the US government,” Fuad El-Hibri, chairman and chief executive officer of Emergent BioSolutions, said. “In addition, based upon encouragement by the USG, we believe our rPA vaccine is well-positioned to obtain a development contract under this BAA. Our anthrax franchise solidifies Emergent as a leader in the development and supply of anthrax medical countermeasures.”
BioThrax is currently being delivered under this contract with an expected completion of deliveries by September 2011. BioThrax is the only FDA licensed vaccine for the prevention of anthrax diseases.
“We believe that BioThrax will remain a premier product based on its recent enhancements, such as four-year dating, a reduced vaccination schedule and intramuscular route of administration, together with the potential for a further reduction in the vaccination schedule to a 3-dose primary series with a 3-year boost,” Daniel J.Abdun-Nabi, president and chief operating officer of Emergent BioSolutions, said. “BioThrax continues to be the product of choice for the USG and other customers seeking to address the anthrax threat.”
BARDA and Emergent are also in separate talks for a contract that would see BARDAA fund scale-up and related activities to obtain FDA licensure for large-scale production of BioThrax at Emergent’s new 50,000-square-foot Lansing, Mich., manufacturing facility.
“I am proud that Lansing remains home to America’s first line of defense against what experts say is the single biggest bioterror threat, anthrax,” U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, MI-08, said. “The good news about the cancellation of this particular proposal is HHS recommitted itself to the Lansing-made anthrax vaccine and has opened a new proposal for a next-generation anthrax vaccine for which Emergent has indicated it will compete.
“Rest assured, I will continue working to strengthen our nation’s existing bioterror preparedness measures and protect national security jobs in Lansing.”
Bad News Clouds Two Bio Defense Stocks
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Written by Staff and Wire Reports
Tuesday, 08 December 2009 01:28
Key news developments will affect shares of these two companies who help meet the critical needs of the United States and its allies by developing and commercializing medical countermeasures against biological and chemical weapons.
The two companies which waited until late after hours on Monday to announce that the Biomedical Research and Development Authority had informed them of some negative news.
After hours on Monday, PharmAthene, Inc. (NYSE Amex: PIP) a biodefense company specializing in the development and commercialization of medical countermeasures against chemical and biological threats, announced that the Department of Health and Human Services Biomedical Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has canceled its request for proposal (RFP) for Recombinant Protective Antigen Anthrax Vaccine for the Strategic National Stockpile (RFP BARDA 08-15).
PharmAthene was informed of BARDA’s decision during a meeting late Monday afternoon with BARDA representatives. BARDA issued a press release after the close of the securities markets announcing that it will cancel RFP BARDA 08-15 because it did not believe vaccine developers submitting proposals in response to the request for proposal (RFP) could have product ready for FDA licensure within 8 years.
In similar news…
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) announced today that it has been advised by the Office of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) that the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the procurement of rPA vaccines has been cancelled in favor of a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for rPA vaccine development. According to BARDA officials, BARDA took this action after a technical evaluation panel determined that none of the vaccine developers submitting proposals could meet the Project BioShield statutory requirement of having a product ready for licensure within 8 years.
Simultaneously, BARDA issued an amendment to BAA 09-34 to enable companies to submit proposals to obtain development funding for rPA vaccine candidates. The due date for all proposals is February 1, 2010. During a meeting with company officials today, BARDA strongly encouraged Emergent to submit a proposal to this BAA. Emergent intends to submit its proposal by the end of this year.
While the decision by BARDA has no impact on the company’s $400 million procurement contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the manufacture and delivery of 14.5 million doses of BioThrax® into the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). Investors are still likely to react negatively to the news.
After selling dies down, there may be a bounce trade opportunity for EBS followers since the company feels that “BioThrax remains a critical and long-term countermeasure for the US government,” said Fuad El-Hibri, chairman and chief executive officer of Emergent BioSolutions. “In addition, based upon encouragement by the USG, we believe our rPA vaccine is well-positioned to obtain a development contract under this BAA. Our anthrax franchise solidifies Emergent as a leader in the development and supply of anthrax medical countermeasures.”
Source :: http://biomedreports.com/articles/most-popular/20870-bad-news-clouds-move-in-on-these-stocks.html
October 9, 2008 – Farr Honors Former Santa Cruz Mayor
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – R. Scott Kennedy, former mayor of Santa Cruz and co-founder of the city’s Resource Center for Nonviolence, was presented with the 2008 El-Hibri Peace Education Prize. This prize, including a check for $10,000, is a joint effort between Nonviolence International, American University and the El-Hibri family.
Nancy El-Hibri presented Kennedy the prize honoring his service as a “peace educator and activist of extraordinary impact.” The award presentation ceremony highlighted his central role in “establishing and promoting the now cottage industry of educational delegations for peace to Central America and the Middle East.”
Congressman Sam Farr (D-Carmel), entered a congratulatory statement in the Congressional Record paying tribute to Kennedy.
“It is with great pleasure that I call attention to Dr. Scott Kennedy’s work to bring peace to the world over the course of his lifetime,” Rep. Farr wrote. “He has been a Peace Educator for 40 years and was instrumental in pioneering educational delegations to conflict zones, now a widely practiced form of peace education.”
During the October 4 award ceremony, Kennedy remarked, “Peace education in the classroom is valuable, yet needs to be complemented with pragmatic, hands-on efforts in our communities to make peace and justice a living reality.” He expressed deep appreciation for the many colleagues at the Resource Center for Nonviolence as well as the citizens of Santa Cruz for their tremendous support and inspiration.
Mr. Fuad El-Hibri, who established the El-Hibri Peace Education Prize, noted that he and the El-Hibri Charitable Foundation will continue to support the prize and its growth each year in an effort to highlight the importance of peace education, and to support people who are working for a just, peaceful and healthy planet.
Kennedy is co-founder of Witness for Peace, the Resource Center for Nonviolence and Interfaith Peacebuilders, which has sent educational around the world to countries whose people suffer from conflict, lack of educational opportunities and social injustice.
Source : : http://www.farr.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=442
Tags: award, colleagues, Honors, Kennedy, peace, Santa Cruz
Interview w L’Orient Le Jour
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Fouad el-Hibri, winner of the Ernst and Young Prize for “the best entrepreneur of the year”, L’Orient Le Jour, July 3, 2009, (Translated from French)
by Irene Mossali
A name stands out in the world of science in the United States, and what is more, it is Lebanese: that of Fouad el-Hibri, CEO of a large-scale biopharmaceutical company called “Emergent BioSolutions.” For his excellent performance in this sector, he has just received the prize of “best entrepreneur of the year” awarded by Ernst and Young for the Greater Washington Area (the federal capital and its surrounding areas of Maryland and Virginia). A prestigious distinction awarded to those who have brought to full growth the business that they have taken in hand.
We meet with Fouad el-Hibri, who was passing through Beirut for a family vacation. At 51 years of age, he is thus at the head of one of the most important biotechnology firms, Emergent BioSolutions (located in the State of Maryland), which produces vaccines and therapies against diseases caused by powerful toxins such as anthrax, botulism, Chlamydia, hepatitis B, and tuberculosis. His research projects pursued in this sector and their applications have assured this firm of being the number one supplier of the American government and the only one to be authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration to manufacture the vaccine against anthrax. And that is the proof of the reliability and of the high degree of expertise of this firm when one realizes that the bacterium (Bacillus anthracis), which causes anthrax can become a biological weapon.
Since 1998, close to 8.4 million doses of this vaccine have been administered as a prophylactic measure to more than 2.1 million members of the American armed forces. In addition, 30 million doses have been acquired by the American Department of Health, which delivered them to the Center in charge of the protection of the civil population against diseases caused by biological or chemical agents. This was notably the case of the poisoned letters that were sent after September 11. And, quite recently, an African musician, who was performing in New York and who had anthrax symptoms, was treated by this center.
Lebanon on his philanthropic agenda
Regarding the prize has just received, Fouad el-Hibri says: “It is a great honor for me, all the more so because there are many biopharmaceutical companies in the region where I received the prize. I am proud of the continuous growth and of the financial soundness of our company. This success is anchored in the spirit of initiative and of full commitment of our personnel. Their contribution to our mission, which is to protect life, has earned us this reward.”
This business man has, moreover, many strings on his violin. He is part of several university committees active in the health sector. We also find him on the committee of the National Museum of Health and that of the Heifetz International Music Institute, a non-profit organization which contributes to developing the talents of young musicians. And, following the example of his late father (who distinguished himself in the world of telecommunications), he has written Lebanon on his philanthropic agenda. Ibrahim el-Hibri had offered a center to the “Association des oeuvres sociales au Liban-Orphelinat islamique” [Association of Social Work in Lebanon – Islamic Orphanage], which is built in Khaldé and which he had dedicated to his father, Yéhia el-Hibri. At present, Fouad el-Hibri has offered this same association a new center which will be built in Aramoun and which will be dedicated to his father, Ibrahim
Tags: agenda, firms, honor, Interview, Vaccine
Lebanese CEO Sees Opportunity in Current Crisis
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Daily Star
July 10, 2009
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=104008
Chairman and CEO Fouad El Hibri insists that good business opportunities often arise in time of crisis, which he considers the best time for entrepreneurs to invest in new projects. “When the market is down, I believe that good opportunities arise and investors have better chances to find assets that are undervalued and able to provide wonderful returns in the future,” Hibri told The Daily Star.”I see within any turmoil great opportunities,” he said.
Hibri, an American entrepreneur with Lebanese heritage, is the winner of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 Award in the Technology category in greater Washington. With great persistence and commitment,Hibri was able to successfully grow a pharmaceutical biotech facility that is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and was previously owned and run by the state of Michigan.
Tags: academic, CEO, Crisis, Entrepreneur, Lebanese, Washington
Washington Launched Me, But I am Proud to be a Lebanese Dreaming of New Technology – Al Anwar
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By Nihad Tobalian
Lebanese businessman Fuad El-Hibri is the “Entrepreneur of the Year for 2009” for the Washington, DC area, and earned this award from Ernst & Young’s Global Technology Group, which is given to honor businessmen who lead nascent companies to growth in their specialized area of work. He earned this award for leading his American company, “Emergent BioSolutions,” which he transformed from a stumbling company into a pioneer company in the field of development of medical vaccines. What are the details of this award, and the types of vaccines that the 51-year-old El-Hibri has developed?
During a meeting with Anwar, businessman Fuad El-Hibri, who spends his annual vacation in Lebanon, said:
From this award, “Ernst & Young” is seeking major companies that apply quality standards of work and production and the ability to develop new products, against the contribution of these companies in the development and preservation of the community. What helped us as “Emergent BioSolutions” to win this award, specifically for the category of technology in the Washington metropolitan area, is our adherence to the requirement of the award, especially after the recent acquisition of the company, which was for sale for approximately $25 million, and which has 170 employees. Through expansion and development strategy, the price of the company rose to between 400 and 500 million dollars, according to the New York Stock Exchange, as the price per share has risen from six dollars ten years ago to 26 dollars, in addition to increasing the number of employees to 600 employees, which helped us to increase the volume of our business, especially since our approved strategy was also based on a policy of expansion through the acquisition of three money losing companies in the United States, Britain and Germany.
Overseeing Companies
“Ernst & Young,” explains businessman Fuad El-Hibri, “is a global financial company that exercises financial control over companies, and honors those who achieve their aspirations and consequently, their achievements in the creative and innovative areas in the field of technology. After that, a panel of judges selects a ‘Leading Businessman.’ Ernst &Young selected me as the pioneer businessman for 2009 in the field of technology, in my capacity as owner of the company ‘Emergent BioSolutions.’ And while I am proud of the award, I am also proud of every employee in the company, because they all, in addition to being loyal to the company, believe in what we do, and devote themselves to work, especially since the scope of our work requires protecting human life. It is true that the company has a business face, but the primary nature of our work is to protect human life through the development of vaccines that will provide them with immunity against disease. The motto with which we operate the commercial side does not negate the human aspect.”
Oxford University
● You spoke about the specialized vaccines that the company you own develop. What are these vaccines? And against which diseases do they work?
- We are currently working on the development of several new vaccines, including a vaccine for tuberculosis. We, in this regard, are working to develop a special vaccine for this disease, and I can say we are in the advanced stages of testing which we have conducted in South Africa, as we are in the second stage, Phase b, results of which have been encouraging. After two years of testing this vaccine on a sample of children to determine its potency, we have reached the stage of measuring the potency and immunity of the vaccine. If the tests are successful tests, then we will move on to Phase III of the trials to expand the tests to include the category of adults who provide material support for the companies developing the typhoid vaccine. We also receive support from the “Wellcome Trust,” while our partner in these trials is the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
The second vaccine—according to El-Hibri—is related to hepatitis B, which would, if successfully tested, provide immunity for patients with this disease. It would also provide a treatment for the chronic diseases resulting from hepatitis B. Businessman Fuad El-Hibri explains, “Patients who suffer from this disease often experience hepatitis B turning into a chronic disease, which may lead, in advanced stages, to liver cancer or liver failure for good. The vaccine, which we are currently developing, helps the patient’s body to protect itself against the disease in terms of reducing and limiting the progress of the disease and limiting its spread in the body. If I were to be optimistic, I would say that this vaccine could eliminate the disease completely, but today, I would say that if we were able to alleviate the pressure of this disease on the patient’s body, then we would have achieved a great result in this area, namely the prevention of the deterioration of the patient’s health. With respect to this vaccine, we have reached the second phase of testing which was conducted on a sample of citizens in China.
A New Medical Development
● What about the work on a vaccine for cancer, for which effective medical treatments have not been found?
- We are working on a number of vaccines for multiple diseases, including for example, work on the development of a vaccine to increase the effectiveness of an old vaccine. For example, there is an effective vaccine for typhoid, but we are working to develop a single dose vaccine, to be administered orally, not with a needle. As for internal diseases, such as internal inflammations for example, we have two technical working groups at the company studying the possibility of trying to find volunteers to receive these vaccines. However, I think it is premature to talk about this vaccine, because we are still in the early stages of the work, and specifically, we are still at the exploration stage. However, in this connection, if we were to look at this issue from a scientific point of view, vaccines are the most advanced in the pharmaceutical industry. Biological studies have shown that vaccines, and immunity enhancement and vaccination are more mature in biological research than they are in the pharmaceutical industry.
● Those who are familiar with your curriculum vitae will find that you specialize in economics. What led you to work in the medical treatment field?
- By nature, I love to work on the development of medical treatments. True, I specialized in economics, where I got a diploma from Stanford University and then an advanced degree in business from Yale University, then worked as head of the Operations Department at Citibank Group and then in Hamilton, and both were of consulting nature that encompass different industries, from the financial industry to beverages to research management. After that, I moved to work for consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, but above all I love to work on the development of medical treatments, even though I do not have any scientific background in the field of medicine. However, the nature of my work in these institutions and companies helped me to get into this area. In addition, I was lucky to have a wonderful team that helped me and taught me, because the working group has a scientific background and its members are dreamers like me. They have taught me and helped me to penetrate this field.
Miko B. Neri
Senior Manager
Corporate Communications
Emergent BioSolutions
2273 Research Boulevard, Suite 400
Rockville, Maryland 20850
t 301 795 1859
f 301 795 1850
c 240 938 6296
e nerim@ebsi.com
www.emergentbiosolutions.com
Fuad El-Hibri on Seesmic.tv
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URL: http://www.emergentbiosolutions.com
Fuad El-Hibri on Funnyordie.com
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Mr. Fuad El-Hibri is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (Emergent).
Website: http://www.emergentbiosolutions.com/
Current City: Rockville
Country: 
United States of America
URL: funnyordie.com/fuadelhibri
