Batavia Biosciences to manufacture Marburg vaccine for IAVI under $35.7M DTRA grant

Leiden, the Netherlands, Nov 12, 2019 – We are proud to announce that we have partnered with IAVI under an award they have received from the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to develop a VSV-based vaccine against Marburg virus. (Link to IAVI press release)

This is the second collaboration between Batavia and IAVI on VSV vaccine development, the first being a CEPI funded award to develop a VSV-based vaccine against Lassa virus.

In both programs, Batavia leverages its highly intensified manufacturing process (HIP-Vax) technology, combined with NevoLine™ manufacturing equipment (Univercells), to manufacture clinical product for human testing and to provide a low-cost manufacturing solution for these vaccines in the future.

The VSV-Marburg vaccine candidate rVSVΔG-MARV-GP has been licensed by IAVI from the Public Health Agency of Canada and demonstrated strong protection from the deadly disease in non-human primate studies.

Marburg virus is a public health threat that has a high case fatality rate, and it is a potential bioterrorism threat. The World Health Organization has identified Marburg virus disease, along with other viral hemorrhagic fevers, as a priority for research and development because of its epidemic potential and because there are insufficient countermeasures to prevent and treat it. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has classified Marburg virus as a Category A bioterrorism threat – a high-priority agent that poses a risk to national security.

Batavia manufactures LASV vaccine candidate for IAVI who today announced the first vaccinations of their Lassa fever vaccine candidate

Batavia Biosciences would like to congratulate IAVI on their press release, as today they’ve announced volunteers in Monrovia, Liberia have been vaccinated with IAVI’s novel vaccine candidate against Lassa fever virus (LASV) in a Phase I clinical trial, named IAVI C102, supported by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

‘LASV causes significant annual outbreaks of an acute viral illness called Lassa fever, which is endemic in many parts of West Africa. Outbreaks in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Togo have resulted in nearly 6,000 suspected cases and more than 180 deaths since early 2022, according to reports by the World Health Organization (WHO).’

IAVI’s LASV vaccine candidate was manufactured by Batavia in Leiden, The Netherlands. As a contract-development and manufacturing organization focused on delivering sustainable, low-cost manufacturing solutions in the field of infectious disease and cancer, we intend to continue to strengthen our partnership with IAVI and continue to develop an end-to-end platform for more flexible, low-cost production of epidemic preparedness vaccines.

Congratulations to everyone involved in helping reduce human suffering from infectious diseases

Link to IAVI Press Release

Interview: Menzo Havenga

Future of Vector Vaccines

Now that the mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines turn out to be successful, is there still a future for vector-based vaccines? “Absolutely”, says expert  Menzo Havenga  (CEO, Batavia Biosciences). In an interview with a Dutch local newspaper, Menzo explains some of the benefits of the use of viral vectors, such as the stability and costs. Additionally, viral vectors have other highly promising medical applications like the development of cancer vaccines and gene therapies.

Link to article  (in Dutch)

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Nicky Veringmeier

Nicky Veringmeier

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The multi-product facility is designed to support the late-stage clinical manufacturing and commercial manufacturing of vaccines and viral vector-based gene therapy and immune-oncology products.

Batavia’s highly intensified manufacturing technology, HIP-Vax®, which utilizes fixed-bed bioreactors, will be the main platform, but also products manufactured using traditional mammalian cell suspension technologies up to 1000L scale can readily be delivered. The facility is based on a modular design, with 6 production suites. On-site, state-of-the-art fill / finish capabilities ensure on-time delivery of drug product. Depending on virus / vector type the facility is expected to provide for several hundred million doses annually.

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Low-cost viral vector manufacturing

High-throughput screening for viral vectors

Viral vector manufacturing

Thermostable viral envelope protein formulation

Maximizing protein expression