GSK Developing Low-Cost Polio Vax Manufacturing Tech with NIBSC
The new platform - which is designed for the manufacture of non-pathogenic and genetically stable IPV - is based on technology developed by the UK National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) that GSK licensed earlier this year.
Spokeswoman Catherine Hartley told in-Pharmatechnologist.com that: “We are at a very early stage and need to first evaluate the manufacturability of the technology and therefore it is premature to comment on how manufacturing may differ from standard methods.
While it may be at an early stage Hartley added that if technology project is successful it “gives us an option to produce IPV vaccines in developing countries and therefore manage our IPV supply commitment to polio eradication.
“GSK has been, and continues to be, a major supplier of OPV worldwide. We are fully committed to supporting the post-eradication phase and are working on a number of areas where we feel we can significantly contribute to this goal,” she continued, reiterating that “one of the areas is through the provision of lower cost IPV containing combination vaccines.”
The collaboration, specific details of which were not disclosed, is one of a number of vaccine-focused partnerships and investments covered in the Corporate Responsibility report that GSK published last week.
Vaccine for India JV
One of the projects is the related join venture (JV) that GSK established with Indian firm Biological E that will see the firms collaborate on the development of a six-in-one combination vaccine for India and other developing countries.
The idea is to combine several vaccine – including an IPV – in a single shot that could be used to reduce the number of injections required by immunization programmes, thereby boosting compliance and – GSK hopes – disease eradication efforts.
