Novavax is making news again: The vaccine maker announced last week that it had begun construction of a manufacturing facility in India for pandemic and seasonal flu vaccine. The announcement follows a deal we reported last week in which Xcellerex will produce Novavax H1N1 vaccine for use in a Mexican trial.
This time, Novavax is working with CPL Biologicals, which will use the Novavax virus-like-particle vaccine technology to produce commercial-scale quantities of the vaccines using disposables technology. The turnaround time for construction is four months. Capacity is expected to be 60 million doses annually.
"This model will show how a how an efficient and scalable vaccine platform can help address the growing demand for pandemic and seasonal vaccine," says Jon Trizzino, who is both senior VP for Novavax and interim CEO for CPL Biologicals, in an announcement. The deal and the facility are true to the Novavax objective of establishing regional partnerships and manufacturing capabilities that spread the use of VLP technology. CPL, in fact, will use the facility to make other vaccines using the technology.
- here's the announcement