MedImmune Inc., a Gaithersburg-based biotechnology company, and Human Genome Sciences Inc. signed an agreement where MedImmune will lease a portion of an HGS facility in Rockville. The facility will play host to teams of scientists developing and manufacturing trial material for seasonal and pandemic flu vaccines. MedImmune already has a five-year, approximately $170 million contract awarded last year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to research a pandemic influenza vaccine.

“While we are currently expanding our biologics manufacturing facility in Frederick, Md., which will increase our capacity to produce pandemic vaccine as well as other products in our pipeline, the immediate availability of the existing Human Genome Sciences facility allows us to expedite certain development steps toward expanding our capacity to produce cell culture-based influenza vaccines,” said Alan Taggart, MedImmune’s vice president of government project management, in a statement.

– Kate Prahlad