Tarit Mukhopadhyay
University College London (UCL), United Kingdom
Abstract:
Vaccination has been one of the most successful health initiatives of the 20th century. However, as we turn to expand vaccine coverage in line with the WHOs Global Vaccine Action Plan, issues with manufacturing supply, capacity, and affordability have hampered efforts. The issue of supply is not just limited to LMIC markets, but include developed markets where shortages and stock-outs of established EPI vaccines, such as HepB, have been reported.
This talk will focus on the challenges and opportunities the manufacturing sciences can play in tackling the vaccine supply issue. Advances in molecular and strain engineering allow for a systematic approach to designing simplified platform manufacturing processes for viral vaccines. Through rigorous process and economic modelling, areas for cost saving and their impact on facility design can be considered to ensure that final drug product is less than 15cent/dose.