Cevec Pharma also added that the virus titers are as good as or even higher than with MDCK and Vero cells, host cells currently used for influenza vaccine production.
Cevec Pharma made these conclusions based on the data obtained in a collaborative project with Professor Reichl at the Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems in Magdeburg, an expert in design and optimisation of vaccine production processes in Germany.
In the study, CAP cells were infected with various human, equine and swine influenza strains and the virus titers compared to MDCK suspension cells.
Cevec Pharma CEO Rainer Lichtenberger said that CAP cells could prove to be of advantage for the production of flu vaccines.
“The achieved virus yields give hope for a more efficient production than with the help of conventional egg-based technology,” Lichtenberger said.
Cevec Pharma chief commercial officer and managing director Wolfgang Kintzel said that the infected CAP cells grow rapidly in serum-free and commercially available media.
Reichl said that the human suspension cell line CAP has an enormous potential for establishment of influenza vaccine manufacturing processes.
CAP is the last independent human cell line for the production of vaccines and recombinant proteins.
CAP cells are a human immortalised cell line derived from primary human amniocytes that meet highest ethical standards.
Additionally, CAP cells grow in serum-free suspension cultures, allow stable protein production, and show human-like post-translational modifications and authentic human glycosylation patterns.