Novavax, PacificGMP Partner on Flu Vaccine Production

Novavax, Inc. and PacificGMP, LLC have formed a strategic alliance to collaborate on the development of a commercial scale production process for Novavax’s experimental pandemic influenza virus (avian flu) vaccine and other biological products. Under the alliance,
PacificGMP will assist Novavax in developing the capability of manufacturing large quantities of vaccine to accommodate the surge capacity that must be met in the event of a pandemic outbreak of influenza.

PacificGMP will utilize disposable bioprocessing technology to manufacture and produce Novavax’s VLP avian flu vaccine, which will allow for faster production, with greatly reduced overall manufacturing costs. This process also mitigates the possibility for cross-contamination in production, which should ultimately result in a VLP avian flu vaccine that will be available to the public in a much shorter time period, according to a company statement.

“This agreement with PacificGMP brings another critical capability to Novavax in the development of our H5N1 avian influenza VLP vaccine, and puts Novavax a step closer to servicing the world at large in the event of a pandemic.” said Dr. Rahul Singhvi, president and chief executive officer of Novavax. “To ensure true surge capacity for production of our pandemic influenza vaccine, we have designed our manufacturing process around the use of disposable equipment designed by Wave Biotech LLC. PacificGMP is ideally suited to support us on the manufacturing scale-up and the commercialization of the product since they are industry experts in the use of such disposable process equipment.”

Novavax is continuing with R&D on its avian flu vaccine and is currently conducting preclinical work before submitting an IND Application to the FDA.