Nabi Biopharmaceuticals opens new facility
facility in which commercial quantities of StaphVAX [Staphylococcus
aureus Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine] will be produced. StaphVAX
is currently in phase III development to prevent S. aureus
infections in end-stage renal (kidney) disease (ESRD) patients.
The scalable facility, which was completed in just eight months, has a 12,000 square foot floorspace, that will also be used to manufacture NicVAX [Nicotine Conjugate Vaccine], a vaccine to prevent and treat nicotine addiction; and next generation Gram-positive pipeline vaccine products.
Raafat Fahim, senior vice president, research, technical and production operations at Nabi said: "To ensure a smooth transition to the marketplace, the company has employed a dual sourcing strategy for StaphVAX. In addition to the Florida facility, Cambrex Bio Science Baltimore. has partnered with Nabi Biopharmaceuticals and is already manufacturing commercial quantities of StaphVAX in preparation for launch of the product."
StaphVAX is an investigational polysaccharide conjugate vaccine that presents a novel approach to the prevention of S. aureus infections. Nabi Biopharmaceuticals is developing StaphVAX for patients who are at high risk of S. aureus infections and who are able to respond to a vaccine by producing their own antibodies.
StaphVAX is intended to stimulate a patient's immune system to produce antibodies to S. aureus that provide active, long-term protection from the bacteria. StaphVAX targets S. aureus types 5 and 8, which are responsible for approximately 85 per cent of S. aureus infections.
Nabi Biopharmaceuticals is developing NicVAX (Nicotine Conjugate Vaccine) a novel and proprietary investigational vaccine to prevent and treat nicotine addiction and as an aid to smoking cessation. NicVAX is designed to cause the immune system to produce antibodies that bind to nicotine and prevent it from entering the brain.
Nabi said that the nicotine antibodies act like a "sponge" soaking up nicotine as it circulates in the blood stream and preventing it from reaching the brain. The positive stimulus in the brain that is normally caused by nicotine would then no longer be present.
Preclinical studies showed that vaccination with NicVAX can prevent nicotine from reaching the brain and block the effects of nicotine, including effects that can lead to addiction or can reinforce
