The facility represents the largest livestock vaccine manufacturing facility in Canada with capacity to supply Canadian animal vaccine requirements and to meet Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards.
The expansion provides Bioniche with the capability to produce a wide spectrum of vaccines, with fermentation capabilities of up to 5,000 litres and all downstream processing and supporting utilities.
Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Business Development Bank of Canada, Industry Canada have funded $25m for the project.
Bioniche Life Sciences president and CEO Graeme McRae said this government funding is critical to achieve vision for canadian vaccine manufacturing facility to produce a range of vaccines to prevent illnesses in animals and to reduce human illness from animal diseases.
The first product to be manufactured in the centre will be the company’s E. coli O157 cattle vaccine – Econiche – directed to reducing the level of deadly pathogen in water, food and the environment and, in turn, help minimize the potential for infection of humans.
The company has developed substantial strategic information (trade secret) expertise on inducing bacteria to produce commercial quantities of vaccination proteins during fermentation.
These technologies may also be applicable to the development of additional animal health and food safety vaccines, including for Salmonella and Rhodococcus equi, for which the company is already supporting research and development work.