Drug Solutions Podcast: The Future of Vaccine Development

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Normand Blais, senior director of Development and Innovation in Biologics at BIOVECTRA, and Jessica Madigan, director of Business Development in Biologics at BIOVECTRA, discuss all things vaccine with Pharmaceutical Technology editor Jill Murphy.

In this episode of the Drug Solutions podcast, Jill Murphy, Editor, talks to Normand Blais, senior director of Development and Innovation in Biologics at BIOVECTRA, and Jessica Madigan, director of Business Development in Biologics at BIOVECTRA, about multiple topics under the vaccine umbrella. Blais and Madigan discuss the importance of advancements in the pipeline after COVID-19, challenges in the industry, and CDMOs differentiating themselves as vaccine leaders.

About the Speaker

Normand Blais, BIOVECTRA’s Senior Director, Development & Innovation, Biologics, provides strategic scientific guidance to BIOVECTRA’s mRNA and pDNA programs. He is accomplished in early-candidate vaccine development and has considerable leadership in vaccine research and development and expertise in mRNA platforms. His key areas of expertise are:

  • Vaccinology and technical development of biologics
  • Vaccine design and scientific evidence generation
    • Recombinant adjuvanted vaccines (protein expression, purification, and formulation)
    • mRNA vaccines
    • Viral Vectors
    • Bacterial outer membrane vesicles
  • Protein Engineering and Structural Biology
  • Leveraging and interpreting protein biophysical characterization and analytics

Jessica Madigan, B.Sc. (Chemistry, 2008), has 14+ years of experience focused on nucleic acid manufacturing and development. Jessica played a key role at start-up company TriLink BioTechnologies (first CMO/CDMO for mRNA and inventors of CleanCap technology), leading to successful launch of mRNA, plasmid, capping analogs and modified nucleotide products. Jessica also holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification and successfully managed over 30 API manufacturing projects for mRNA early phase clinical trials. At BIOVECTRA (2022-present), Jessica supports business development efforts for pDNA, mRNA, and formulation services.

About the Drug Solutions Podcast

Pharmaceutical Technology presents the Drug Solutions podcast, where the editors will chat with industry experts from across the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical supply chain. Join us as experts share insights into your biggest questions—from the technologies, to strategies, to regulations related to the development and manufacture of drug products.

Listen to this podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Apple Podcasts.