Chris Yallop, COO at Batavia Biosciences, explains: “Advances in immuno-oncology, infectious diseases and gene therapy have given rise to a profound increase in the global demand for process development and clinical manufacturing of viral vector based products.”
The R&D facility in Woburn, located just north of Cambridge (MA) allows Batavia Biosciences to expand its process development capacity for its HIP-Vax® platform. Through innovative bioprocess intensification, HIP-Vax technology allows clinical manufacturing at a lab-scale. The highly intensified production processes developed by Batavia, have significantly lower cost-of-goods compared to traditional production platforms.
Menzo Havenga, CEO at Batavia Biosciences, adds: “Especially in the field of virotherapy, current low production yields force developers to a use relatively large scale equipment even to support phase 1 and 2 clinical trials. Our HIP-Vax technology platform provides a rapid and cost-effective alternative, providing a scalable and robust process using a bench-scale manufacturing footprint.”
The newly added R&D spaces are fully equipped to provide production, purification and analytical support for diverse viral vectors including lentiviral and AAV vectors.
Ingrid van Aarle, HR manager at Batavia Biosciences, says: “We are always on the lookout for new talent, especially with the new infrastructure coming online soon. Scientists and technicians, who wish to contribute to making potential life-saving biopharmaceuticals more affordable and better available and want to develop their careers in the exciting world of viral vectors, are invited to apply via Batavia’s jobs page.”
Menzo concludes: “At Batavia Biosciences, we are aware every day that the patient is waiting. With the completion of this build-out, we are well positioned to maintain speed and quality of bringing candidate biopharmaceuticals from the bench to the clinic.”