Manufacturing

Articles

Alcan, China Biopharma, US FDA, MedImmune, more

November 16, 2006 Notes: Alcan Sells Wheaton Science Products to River Associates Investments, China Biopharma Completes Delivery of Flu Vaccine, More

Geneva, Switzerland (Oct. 23)-Aiming to increase capacity for producing influenza pandemic vaccines, the World Health Organization has identified strategies and practical solutions for reducing the anticipated gap in the global vaccine supply.

WHO Urges Immediate Action to Close Vaccine Supply Gap

New York (Oct. 9)-Pfizer has positioned itself to enter the DNA-based vaccine market with its agreement to acquire UK-based PowderMed Ltd., which holds a pipeline of DNA-based influenza vaccines currently in clinical development for treating both seasonal and avian flu.

Pfizer to Acquire PowderMed, Enter DNA-Based Vaccine Market

Rockville, MD (Sept. 28)-The US Food and Drug Administration has released the draft guidance for industry ?Characterization and Qualification of Cell Substrates and Other Biological Starting Materials Used in the Production of Viral Vaccines for the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases.?

FDA Releases Draft Guidance for Cell-Based Vaccine Development

Patricia Van Arnum was executive editor of Pharmaceutical Technology.

GlaxoSmithKline (London, England) has developed a vaccine against the H5N1 bird flu strain that, the company says, shows better immune response than other vaccines in development.

GlaxoSmithKline Progresses on H5N1 Pandemic Flu Vaccine

Novartis (Basel, Switzerland) will build a cell culture-derived influenza vaccines manufacturing plant in Holly Springs, North Carolina. Construction is expected to begin in 2007.

Novartis To Build Vaccine Manufacturing Plant in North Carolina

Although the number of anti-infective vaccines (as distinct from therapeutic vaccines for cancers and other noninfectious diseases) entering clinical study each year since 2000 has been higher on average than it was in the 1990s, this product area may see little additional growth through the rest of this decade, according to a recentanalysis from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (Boston, MA).

Tufts Study Points to Slow Growth for Anti-Infective Vaccines

MedImmune, Inc. (Gaitherburg, MD) reports that US Food and Drug Administration (Rockville, MD) has approved the company's supplemental biologics license application to use reverse genetics technology to construct new vaccine strains to produce seasonal influenza vaccines.

MedImmune Advances Vaccine Program

Biopharmaceutical company Lipoxen PLC (London, UK) has developed a Hepatitis E vaccine using its novel vaccine delivery technology "ImuXen," which the company claims to be easy to manufacture. According to the company, the proprietary liposomal formulation method delivers vaccine materials to the immune system in a manner designed to emulate the response of a natural encounter with the infection agent.

Hep E Vaccine Developed Using Novel Liposome Technology

GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK, London, UK) will invest more than GBP102 million ($188 million) over the next four years in a vaccine manufacturing plant in Singapore.

Manufacturing, Biologic Drugs