Japan's Mitsubishi Tanabe is moving forward with a flu vaccine that is produced by implanting genetic material from the flu virus into tobacco leaves, which then produce flulike particles containing antigens to provoke an immune response. The key benefit of the tobacco manufacturing process is that it requires only one month to produce a vaccine, compared to the 6 months required to produce a traditional egg-based jab. The company hopes to get the vaccine to market by 2018 or 2019. More from FierceVaccines
> Chinese CMO WuXi PharmaTech, which just went private, is talking about spinning off its biologics manufacturing and development business in a deal that might be valued at $1.5 billion. Story
> Lupin Managing Director Nilesh Gupta says the company is building a plant in Japan and investing about $14.5 million to expand a production facility in India to manufacture products for the Japanese market. Story
> China's JHL Biotech says GE ($GE) has completed the mechanical installation at its new plant in the Biolake area of Wuhan, China and once it is validated in June, says it will be the largest monoclonal antibody manufacturing facility in mainland China based on single-use bioreactor technology. Release
> The Kenyan government is being urged to build a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant to provide more drugs in the country. Report