Batavia & International Consortium partner to Develop Polio Vaccine
Dutch Biotech, Batavia Biosciences, has now partnered up with an international consortium coordinated by PATH aiming to develop and manufacture safer novel oral poliovirus vaccines (nOPV). The project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has the potential to bolster efforts to sustain a polio-free world after the disease has been eradicated.
With a 99% reduction in polio cases worldwide since 1988, the global eradication of polio is now in sight. In support of the polio eradication initiative, novel oral polio vaccine (nOPV) candidates are being developed that are intended to reduce the risk from rare cases of vaccine-associated disease. The novel strains are intended to be stockpiled as protection against possible future outbreaks after polio has been eradicated.
As part of the partnership, Batavia Biosciences will manufacture new polio vaccine strains that have been developed by the UK’s National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC), the CDC, the FDA, and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). The goal is to develop safer polio vaccines with reduced risk of leading to an infection with the vaccine strain.
The international consortium led by PATH is aiming at developing
a new type of oral polio vaccine with a reduced risk of producing these vaccine-caused infections. A candidate is already being tested in Phase I trials at the University of Antwerp, in Belgium.Chris Yallop, CSO of Batavia Biosciences, states: “With such a consortium, I am convinced that we will succeed in taking the next step in the development of this much needed vaccine.”
Menzo Havenga, CEO of Batavia Biosciences, states: “We are proud to work with the Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationPATH, NIBSC and BioFarma, and on the goal of bringing a safer oral polio vaccine to help keep the world polio-free.”
