A second possible bidder has emerged for controversial Oxford University spin-off company PowderJect.
PowderJect, based at Oxford Science Park, has seen its shares jump 64 per cent following a £455m informal bid from US company Chiron. Now pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, which owns 5.4 per cent of Powderject's shares, is interested in the vaccine firm, according to the Financial Times.
PowderJect chairman and chief executive Paul Drayson stands to realise about £90m for his 20 per cent stake in the company but is said to be hoping that a new bid could raise the price per share from 417.5p to about 600p.
The company was at the centre of controversy in 1998 when Dr Drayson sold £15m worth of shares and donated £100,000 to the Labour Party.
Powderject won a Government contract shortly afterwards to supply smallpox vaccine to protect people from biological warfare, sparking allegations of sleaze.
It then hit a problem when some of its TB vaccines had to be recalled because they were not potent enough.
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