Batavia Biosciences has announced its partnership 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.
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.
The novel candidate vaccine strains currently in manufacturing at Batavia Biosciences have been developed by the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) in the United Kingdom, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).
Menzo Havenga, chief executive officer of Batavia Biosciences, said, “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.”