BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority/HHS) said it is providing three sets of grants totaling $10.4 million “to help the World Health Organization (WHO) strengthen the ability of developing countries to produce flu vaccine, potentially reducing the global threat from influenza.” The grants will be used to assist developing countries with pandemic influenza vaccine manufacturing infrastructure, training on influenza vaccine manufacturing, and development and distribution of certain technologies for pandemic influenza vaccines. Robin Robinson, BARDA director, commented, “While we continue to build vaccine manufacturing capacity in the United States, and develop new, faster technologies for producing vaccine domestically, we can increase pandemic preparedness worldwide by helping other countries take advantage of technology.” Through this WHO initiative over the past five years, $40 million in U.S. funding has been used to develop vaccine manufacturing infrastructure in 10 countries: Egypt, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Romania, Serbia, and Thailand.
“The second set of grants supports training on cutting-edge manufacturing techniques for WHO grantees. North Carolina State University’s Biotechnology and Education Center received $861,000, and Utah State’s Center for Integrated Biosystems received $322,000, to train selected personnel from manufacturers in developing countries. Trainees will receive hands-on instruction in the latest U.S. Food and Drug Administration good manufacturing practices in vaccine production technology. These practices can be taken back and implemented by manufacturers in their native countries.
“The third set of grants supports development of adjuvant and the transfer of technology to produce adjuvant. The use of adjuvants has been shown to reduce the amount of protein needed for flu vaccine to be effective, so the adjuvanted vaccine made in these countries could serve a greater number of people. The Infectious Disease Research Institute in Seattle received $790,000, and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland received $1.8 million, to develop adjuvants and other technologies that can be transferred without the restriction of intellectual property rights.”
vaccines and global health :: ethics and policy 