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| 2006/01/28 23:55:38瀏覽762｜回應0｜推薦5 | |
| (David Silver, BiotechEast)
16 January, 2006 Representatives from US-based biotech company Vaxin Inc. were in Taiwan last week promoting the company's new generation rapid response nasal vaccine technologies. Vaxin Inc. CEO Dr. Kent Van Kampen speaking at an investment forum in Taipei on Wednesday, 11 January, 2006. At a forum organized by Taiwan's Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries Program Office (BPIPO) on January 11th in Taipei, Vaxin CEO Dr. Kent Van Kampen spoke of the limitations of current vaccine manufacturing and delivery methodologies, and how his company planned to turn it all around with a new approach to both. Based on innovative technologies first developed by ex-pat Taiwanese scientist Dr. Tang De-chu, Vaxin founder and Chief Technology Officer, the company's vaccines use a nasal spray delivery. As they don't require syringes they can be easily self administrated. Additionally, the vaccines are adenovirus-vectored--developed in cell lines and not by the traditional egg cultivation method. This is particularly important in light of the current bird flu crisis, where chicken products will be in short supply if and when bird flu strikes key vaccine-producing countries. The old ways produced vaccines that were subject to contamination, said Van Kampen, mentioning the case last year with vaccine producer Chiron Corporation, where FDA's enforced withdrawal of vaccines produced in its facilities due to contamination issues took an estimated 50 million doses off the market. "With new public health issues such as the threat of bio-terrorism and emerging diseases such as bird flu, the vaccine industry needed a new vision, one that puts rapid response, ensured supply and safety at the forefront," said Van Kampen, adding that his company provided such a vision. In pitching the case to an audience of both vaccine industry reps and the investment community for investment funding of at least US$10 million in this the 'B' round of funding, Van Kampen outlined the company's development pipeline for seasonal flu vaccine, pandemic flu vaccine, avian flu vaccine for birds, anthrax vaccine, and a surprising related use of its technologies, a 'vaccine' for Alzheimer's disease. Introducing the company's avian flu vaccine for birds, Tang pointed out the limitations of the strategy currently being used in China and being considered by many other countries as a way to prevent the rapid spread of the disease in poultry flocks; that is, of vaccinating live chickens, one by one. "It's time consuming, and adds to the risk of disease spread as this labor-intensive process is carried out. Another problem it leads to is that it's difficult to distinguish between vaccinated birds and birds which have picked up the disease, because the birds will display the same immunological response," said Tang. Ironically, this could make controlling the spread of the disease amongst bird populations more difficult than if vaccination is not carried out, he mentioned. Vaxin's approach is to use its adenovirus-vectored vaccine, interestingly developed from the human flu virus, and inoculate birds while they are still in the egg, or 'in ovo.' Not only can the process by automated by robotic devices, but this new vaccine type will allow the distinction of vaccinated birds from birds which are infected with H5N1, aiding disease spread control measures. Regarding Vaxin's plans for Taiwan and the rest of the region, Van Kampen said that the company was aware of the recent government incentive program to attract international vaccine companies to set up operations on the island, and was looking at a number of options to become involved, including launching a subsidiary company in Taiwan to manufacture its vaccines and to set up human clinical trials of its products over coming years. As for its product pipeline, its in ovo avian flu vaccine for poultry should be approved for use by 2008, and its seasonal flu and pandemic flu vaccines by 2011. |
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| ( 知識學習｜科學百科 ) |
