InVitria Attends 11^th Annual World Vaccine Congress

The vaccine industry’s move toward cell-based vaccines increases demand for InVitria’s animal-free product line to eliminate contamination risk and improve performance.

Fort Collins, CO April 7, 2011 – The World Vaccine Congress brings together vaccine industry leaders and innovators to advance research and commercialization efforts for vaccines. InVitria will join the 11^th Annual World Vaccine Congress in Washington DC, April 11-14. InVitria’s animal-free media products provide a much needed replacement for animal-derived components currently being used in cell-based vaccine production.

For the past few years, vaccine manufacturing has been in the spotlight. With last year’s H1N1 flu pandemic and increasing concerns about bioterrorism, governments around the globe are making investments to improve vaccine technology. One area of sizeable investment has been cell-based vaccine production which offers advantages of speed and scalability over traditional egg-based technologies. It is critical that government health agencies are fast to react to emerging pandemics by utilizing highly maneuverable production systems that enable quick and efficient responses.

One common challenge to cell culture-based viral vaccine production is a heavy reliance on animal components, such as fetal bovine serum (FBS), trypsin, and animal- or human blood-derived albumins. Cells that are used in these cultures have traditionally required media ingredients with animal components to achieve the desired growth and productivity. However, animal-derived ingredients are undesirable because they are intrinsically undefined and often create batch-to-batch variability that leads to unpredictable results. In addition, use of these products has been discouraged by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other global regulatory bodies due to safety concerns involving the risk of viral and prion (the infectious causative agent associated with Mad Cow Disease) contamination.

InVitria’s product line eliminates these manufacturing challenges by providing direct replacements for animal components. InVitria’s products are animal-free and defined, resulting in a regulatory-friendly cell-based vaccine production system that is safer, more robust, and more consistent than animal-derived alternatives.