GlaxoSmithKline was awarded $274.75 million, MedImmune is to receive $169.46 million, Novartis won $220.51 million, DynPort was awarded $40.97 million, and Solvay Pharmaceuticals is to receive $298.59 million. These awards are added to a $97 million contract for development of a cell-based vaccine that was awarded to Sanofi Pasteur in April 2005.
“We have the opportunity to be the first generation that prepares for pandemic. Our current capacity of egg-based influenza vaccine production is not sufficient to meet increased demands during an emergency. Accelerating the development of this vaccine technology and creating domestic capacity are critical to our preparedness efforts,” said Health and Human Services Department secretary Mike Leavitt.
Cell-based vaccine manufacturing – a technology that is used in many other modern vaccines – holds the promise of a reliable, flexible and scalable method of producing influenza vaccines. Currently licensed influenza vaccines are produced in specialized chicken eggs in a technique that has changed little in over 50 years. With increasing demand for seasonal influenza vaccine and with the looming threat of a pandemic, a system that allows surge capacity in an emergency is needed.
Using a cell culture approach to producing influenza vaccine offers a number of benefits. Vaccine manufacturers are able to bypass the steps needed to adapt the virus strains to grow in eggs. In addition, cell culture-based influenza vaccines will help meet surge capacity needs in the event of a shortage or pandemic, since cells may be frozen in advance and large volumes grown quickly.