Biovest and Ordway Research Institute to Evaluate Firm's Technology for Producing Virus-Fighting Products

Biovest and Ordway Research Institute will jointly conduct manufacturing studies using Biovest’s hollow fiber bioreactor systems including the AutovaxID™ system in viral growth studies. The studies are designed to establish further data that confirms the efficiency of Biovest’s instruments for producing a variety of virus-fighting products that include vaccines and virus-like particles (VLPs).

The results are expected to support new and ongoing proposals to various agencies within the U.S. Department of Defense to provide solutions to rapidly produce countermeasures to protect military and civilian populations. “We are currently in discussions with certain agencies within the U.S. Department of Defense as we prepare to pursue significant contract opportunities to rapidly produce virus-fighting products to protect military and civilian populations,” states Mark Hirschel, Ph.D., Biovest’s CSO.

Last year at the 13 th Annual Force Health Protection Conference, the U.S. Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) presented preliminary results of studies with Biovest showing that the company’s hollow fiber biomanufacturing technology can efficiently produce a strain of pandemic A/H1N1 influenza virus. Working with Ordway, Biovest plans to go from the concept stage to the prototype manufacturing stage via large-scale production of virus for vaccines and other novel antiviral products.

Ordway is a biologics research center that focusses on biodefense and emerging infections. “We look forward to providing Biovest results from a series of planned studies throughout this year,” says Ordway’s senior scientist, James J. McSharry, Ph.D.