Novavax and Cadila complete construction of vaccine production facility in India

CPL Biologicals (CPLB), a joint venture of India's Cadila Pharmaceuticals and US clinical-stage biotechnology firm Novavax, says that it has completed construction of its vaccine facility in Dholka, India, and will commence equipment and installation validation this month so that the facility conforms to global standards for production of vaccines for human use.

The new facility utilizes state-of-the-art equipment for fast and efficient production of up to potentially 60 million doses of novel vaccines every year. IA Modi, chairman of Cadila Pharmaceuticals, said: "This facility demonstrates our commitment to establishing the highest-quality vaccine production facility for our nation. It utilizes world-class design and equipment that will be competitive with the world's leading vaccine companies."

The facility plans to produce seasonal and pandemic flu vaccines based on Novavax' advanced virus-like particle (VLP) technology which enables the rapid development and production of novel vaccines without the use of live virus. Novavax established its collaboration with Cadila in the spring of last year (The Pharma Letter April 3, 2009), when a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cadila purchased 12.5 million shares of Novavax' common stock at the market price of $0.88 per share, for an aggregate of $11.0 million.