Vaccine Development Platforms
Strategies for vaccine manufacturing have evolved in the last couple of decades. Emerging methodologies such as recombinant production complement more traditional techniques. Traditional methods, such as the production of inactivated or live attenuated vaccines, have demonstrated efficiency for several diseases but can be limiting for others. Recombinant strategies have unlocked the potential to develop vaccines for unmet indications. At present, there are multiple different platforms available for vaccine developers:
- A well-proven platform such as inactivated and live attenuated vaccines
- Recombinant protein vaccines, or recombinant subunit vaccines, allowing the production of an antigen
- Viral vector vaccines and nucleic acid vaccines, including mRNA and DNA plasmids, allowing the transportation of a genetic sequence in the patient body for in vivo production of the antigen
As a partner of the vaccine industry, we at Sartorius are committed to providing solutions for developing vaccines using these platforms.
Discover Our Vaccine Development Platforms
Viral Vaccines
Viral vaccines include inactivated viral vaccines and live-attenuated viral vaccines. Both rely on a traditional approach i.e.; the disease-causing virus is identified, produced in a bioreactor, and purified. This type of strategy has been used for many diseases with success, and most of the current vaccines against viral diseases use this strategy.
We, at Sartorius, understand the needs of vaccine developers and producers working with viral vaccines and have developed a dedicated toolbox of solutions to face the challenges viral vaccines production.
Viral Vector Vaccines
Viral vector-based vaccines constitute a promising part of the biopharmaceutical pipeline, addressing many unmet indications. To leverage the full potential of viral vector-based vaccine development, many vaccine developers are looking to innovative technologies to support more productive, intensified, and flexible processes.
We invite you to discover the Sartorius toolbox of technologies dedicated to the production and purification of viral vectors. As you explore our generic process overviews for enveloped vectors, non-enveloped vectors, and commonly used vectors, you can click on each step to reveal the challenges that manufacturers face when working with viral vector-based vaccines.
mRNA Vaccines and pDNA
Nucleic acid vaccines have the potential to disrupt the vaccine industry. These vaccines consist of a plasmid DNA or a messenger RNA molecule coding for a disease-specific antigen that is translated into a protein once injected into a patient.
Both processes are simple, cost-effective, and quick to develop and produce in comparison to traditional vaccine processes. However, mRNA vaccines are cell-free processes are relatively new, and this requires solutions tailored to the needs of this platform.
We invite you to discover Sartorius' range of solutions at each step of mRNA and pDNA production.
Recombinant Protein Vaccines
Recombinant protein vaccines, also called recombinant subunit, consist of viral or bacterial antigen produced using recombinant DNA technology. This type of vaccine does not require the production of the entire pathogen and is therefore considered safe, and is well established in the industry.
The challenge to support recombinant protein vaccine manufacturing relies on the diversity of expression systems that can be used: bacteria, yeasts, insect cells, mammalian cells, or even plants. The antigen can be a simple protein or a more complex structure, such as a virus-like particle or a nanoparticle.
