Strasbourg, France-based Aventis has signed a research, option and license agreement with Vivalis of the USA for the manufacture of vaccine candidates using avian stem cell technology.
The two companies say they will combine the ALVAC canarypox virus platform of Aventis Pasteur, the vaccines business of Aventis, and Vivalis' proprietary avian stem cell platform to enable Aventis Pasteur to improve the large-scale production of several ALVAC vaccine candidates. These vaccine candidates are in the fields of HIV and cancer.
In addition, an option has been signed allowing Aventis Pasteur to use Vivalis stem cell lines for the production of another, unnamed virus vaccine.
"The Vivalis avian stem cell technology, now at an early stage of development, is interesting to Aventis Pasteur as a potential means to scale-up production of a range of vaccine candidates," commented Jeffrey Almond, senior vice president, global research and external R&D at Aventis Pasteur.
He noted that s ALVAC candidate vaccines are now moving forward in clinical development and the company needs to consider its large-scale production options.