iBio, Inc. and the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology (CMB) announced an agreement which provides a license of iBio’s proprietary technology to CMB for the development and manufacture of Global Health Vaccines for, and financed by, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The announcement noted that “…a principal focus of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is to provide access to vaccines for the neediest people in the developing countries in the world (Global Alliance for Vaccines & Immunization (GAVI) Eligible Countries), representing vast numbers of people currently unable to afford preventive and therapeutic medical care (Global Access Objectives). Global Health Vaccines, subject to this agreement, are vaccines for human or veterinary use for the prevention of malaria, tuberculosis, rotavirus, trypanosomiasis, hookworm and rabies.”
The announcement continues: “Under the terms of the Agreement, CMB will use iBio’s technology under a non-exclusive, non-royalty bearing grant to develop and test new Global Health Vaccines funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Agreement establishes iBio as the preferred manufacturer of Global Health Vaccines and provides a right of first refusal to iBio to provide technology transfer and vaccine manufacturing services to achieve Global Access Objectives on a commercially reasonable, competitive and sustainable cost basis. In accordance with prior agreements, iBio will own commercial rights to new technology and improvements arising during the course of the programs. Additional terms of the Agreement provide for mutual cooperation with respect to the sharing of clinical data and regulatory filings related to the program.”
Robert Kay, Chairman and CEO of iBio, said, “The attributes of our technology – including rapid response to pandemic disease threats, surge capacity, and scalable manufacturing facilities with much lower capital and operating costs – should enable the Foundation to achieve its objective to provide vaccines to vast populations that have been neglected until now. In this symbiotic relationship, as we help the Foundation achieve its Foundation-funded Global Access Objectives, iBio is helped to optimize and broaden its technology platform for commercial purposes and expand its commercial manufacturing and tech transfer programs.”
Dr. Vidadi Yusibov, Executive Director of CMB and Chief Scientific Officer of iBio, commented, “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and iBio, along with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), are key stakeholders in the success of our technology development. Their support was critical for establishing this technology and demonstrating its potential for development of vaccines against viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases. I am confident this cooperation will provide great benefit for all parties.”
iBio describes itself as “a biopharmaceutical company commercializing its proprietary technology, the iBioLaunch™ platform, for the production of biologics including vaccines and therapeutic proteins. The iBioLaunch platform uses transient gene expression in green plants for superior efficiency in protein production. Advantages include significantly lower capital and process costs, and the technology is ideally suited to infectious disease applications where speed, scalability, and surge capacity are important. iBio’s strategy is to utilize its technology for development and manufacture of its own product candidates and work with both corporate and government clients to reduce their costs during product development and meet their needs for low cost, high quality biologics manufacturing systems. iBio owns technology developed at the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology, and continues to sponsor development and refinement of the technology for broad applications in human healthcare.”
vaccines and global health :: ethics and policy 