The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) has announced approximately $1.7 million in planned project activities through the Institute’s Global Health Fund (GHF) Project Call 6.1G for three new projects focused on the development of in vitro potency assays for vaccines being produced by mRNA and/or viral vector technologies.

These projects were selected to best align with key focus areas identified by NIIMBL and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to address industry needs. The Global Health Fund was established by NIIMBL with funding contributed by BMGF to develop and implement innovative technologies for vaccine and biological manufacturing that will accelerate development timelines and lower the cost of manufacturing, all in furtherance of BMGF’s charitable objectives.

“NIIMBL is looking forward to adding these key projects to our GHF portfolio. These projects will allow us to further advance innovation in vaccine manufacturing, particularly around potency assays that are important for characterization of key quality aspects of vaccines,” said Chris Roberts, associate institute director, NIIMBL. “The recent pandemic highlighted several needs for vaccine development and manufacturing across multiple potential vaccine targets. These projects will make significant advances for vaccine manufacturing.

NIIMBL has awarded approximately 142 technical, workforce development, and Global Health Fund projects through the Project Call process with a total project investment of over $111 million since 2017 when the Institute launched. The NIIMBL community is comprised of more than 200 members from academia, industry, government, and non-profit organizations. They all share the common goal of advancing biopharmaceutical manufacturing.