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Nabi Biopharmaceuticals reported Monday that it has completed another milestone in its $46 million deal with GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals for the Rockville biotech's PentaStaph vaccine candidate.

By finishing the manufacture and transfer of certain materials related to the sale, Nabi is eligible to receive $8 million, according to a Nabi statement. This is the second of four milestones, with total consideration of $26 million for the milestones in developing the staph infection vaccine candidate.

"We continue to make good progress toward realizing the significant value of the PentaStaph asset sale," Nabi CEO Raafat Fahim said in a statement. "We have completed two of the four milestone tasks under this agreement and expect to accomplish the remaining milestones within the next 12 months."

So far, the first two milestones completed by Nabi are worth $13 million. The remaining $13 million in payments involved completion of a phase 1 trail and the successful transfer of technology, according to Nabi information.

Besides the first two milestone payments, Nabi received $21.5 million when the deal closed in November. That included $20 million for closing the transaction, plus $1 million for selling a separate pre-clinical program for a vaccine against S.epidermedis and $500,000 for license fees and clinical materials.

Staphylococcus aureus is a common type of bacteria that live on the skin and sometimes in the nasal passages of healthy people. Some strains, called methicillin resistant, or MRSA, are highly resistant to antibiotic treatment, according to the National Institutes of Health. Serious staph infections are more common in people with weak immune systems, which make them especially dangerous in hospitals and other health care facilities.

The PentaStaph contract is Nabi's second major transaction with GlaxoSmithKline. Also in November, Nabi struck a licensing deal potentially worth more than $500 million for its NicVax vaccine to prevent smoking and relapses.