Articles
SAFC Biosciences And Vivalis Each First Milestone In R&D Collaboration
April 10, 2006
Lenexa, KS and Nantes, France – SAFC Biosciences, a member of the Sigma-Aldrich Group, and Vivalis, have announced the successful completion of the first stage of their on-going collaboration with the launch of their EX-CELL™ EBx™ platform, which includes EX-CELL™ EBx™ viral growth and production media. This media is designed exclusively to support EBx cells, a chicken embryonic derived stem cell line, for growth and production of viral vaccines for therapeutic use.
Under the R&D agreement, which commenced in 2004, SAFC Biosciences has developed and optimized media specifically for use with Vivalis' widely licensed EBx cells, in the commercial development of viral vaccines for clinical trials and recombinant protein production. This serum-free media is designed exclusively to support high growth of EBx cells and high productivity of viruses and viral constructs for production of vaccines for both therapeutic and prophylactic use.
As a result of the collaboration, EBx licensees' development work and success will be enhanced when sourcing medium through SAFC Biosciences. The EX-CELL™ EBx medium will also be used at Vivalis' contract manufacturing facility in Nantes, France, for cGMP production of vaccine lots for phase I/II clinical trials.
"The launch of the EX-CELL EBx technology platform marks a major breakthrough in the commercial production of viral vaccines and recombinant proteins," said Rod Kelley, President of SAFC Biosciences. "We are pleased to have developed a serum-free media specifically for Vivalis EBx cells, which have been viewed as an exciting new vaccine and human therapeutic production platform for the growing pipelines of today's biopharmaceutical companies."
Franck Grimaud, CEO of Vivalis, added, "We have been very pleased with our collaboration with SAFC Biosciences and the motivation of their research and development team. Today, Vivalis clients have access to highly performing EX-CELL EBx media, which further strengthens the performance and the robustness of Vivalis EBx cell lines."
SOURCE: SAFC
