Merck joins DiViNe consortium to advance development of vaccines

Merck has joined the DiViNe project, a European consortium of six companies working to address some of the key challenges facing the development, manufacture and delivery of vaccines today.

The company will join with Affilogic, Aquaporin, GenIbet Biopharmaceuticals GlaxoSmithKline and project coordinator iBET to develop an integrated, cost-effective purification programme for vaccines that achieves higher yields while preserving product integrity.

Merck will be working specifically on simplifying the process of vaccine purification that typically relies on affinity chromatography, a method of capturing antibodies. It will be further supporting the project by contributing chromatographic materials and coupling technologies.

The resulting integrated purification platform will first be tested with diverse, heterogeneous vaccines including glycoconjugates, protein antigens and viruses. Once validated, the consortium will implement the platform in downstream processes for other biologics.

Udit Batra, member of Merck's executive board and chief executive officer of life science, said: "As an industry leader in chromatography, we look forward to contributing our expertise to the DiViNe consortium, helping to identify process efficiencies and supporting expanded access to affordable vaccines."

This comes after Merck recently engaged with multiple global partners to support faster and more cost-effective development of new vaccines to fight a number of diseases such as Ebola, Zika and influenza.

With over 20 years of experience within the science market, we at Zenopa have the knowledge, skills and expertise to help find the right job for you. To find out more about the current science roles we have available, you can search for the latest job roles, register your details, or contact the team today.