Pandemic Vaccine Facility Dedicated in Texas

Government officials from Texas and the US Department of Health and Human Services joined representatives of Texas A&M University, Texas A&M Health Science Center and GlaxoSmithKline to dedicate a national pandemic influenza vaccine manufacturing facility in Bryan, Texas.

Construction of the 100,000-sq-ft Pandemic Influenza Vaccine Facility is scheduled for completion by the end of 2015, to be followed by start-up and validation phases that are expected to be complete by early 2017. When fully functional, the facility is expected to have the capacity to produce the bulk antigen needed for up to 50 million adjuvanted pandemic influenza vaccine doses within four months of a declared influenza pandemic and availability of acceptable virus seeds.

The Pandemic Influenza Vaccine Facility and the adjacent Viral-based Vaccine Facility, which recently entered final design development, are part of the Texas A&M Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing (CIADM), one of three such national centers for innovation supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the only one housed at an academic institution.

CIDAM was founded on a $285 million public-private partnership between the US Department of Health and Human Services, and collaborating academic, commercial, and State of Texas stakeholders. Key objectives include performing advanced research and development, ensuring domestic manufacturing capacity, enabling FDA approval of products, and mentoring the next generation of public health professionals through education, training and outreach, according to an organization statement.

Source: Texas A&M Health Science Center