Novartis invests in influenza vaccines

Novartis has said it has increased its investment in the production of new influenza vaccines.

The Swiss pharmaceutical company has submitted the first cell culture-derived influenza vaccine to the European Union’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, following successful phase III trials.

Furthermore, the company intends to build a new influenza vaccines manufacturing plant in California, while increasing investment in its Marburg facility in Germany, which developed the new vaccine. Novartis stated its intention to become the first company to commercially produce and market flu cell culture vaccines in the EU and the US.

Dr Daniel Vasella, Novartis’ chief executive officer and chairman, commented: “We are taking the lead in moving flu cell culture vaccine manufacturing closer to a commercial reality now that the site for a US manufacturing plant has been chosen and the first EU submission for a flu cell culture vaccine have been completed.”

“Novartis is pioneering this innovative vaccine technology to bring reliability and flexibility of the manufacturing process to a next level and be able to meet the growing need for seasonal influenza vaccines and to quickly respond to a potential pandemic influenza threat once the factory has been completed,” he added.

Cell culture-derived vaccines remove the need to use chicken eggs as cultures for production. Instead, modern biotechnological methods are used, which Novartis claims is a quicker production system that is not reliant on the availability of eggs.

The cell culture-derived vaccine technology has been used to produce vaccines to protect against rabies and smallpox, among other diseases.

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