Ottawa, Ontario-based Virica Biotech reports that it is expanding its bioprocessing facilities and increasing its capacity to scale up the manufacturing of viral medicines and vaccines. The Government of Ontario is supporting the expansion at sites in Ottawa with a $790,000 grant from the Ontario Together Fund, adds Jean Simon Diallo, PhD, the company’s CEO.
“Ontario Together funding is a boost to Virica’s continued growth,” continues Diallo. “Our product line of viral enhancers enables us to seize the massive opportunity to reduce bioprocessing bottlenecks for viral medicine manufacturers and increase manufacturing yields and quality of essential viral-based therapies and vaccines.”
According to Diallo, the expansion project aims to grow Virica’s bioprocessing capacity to keep pace with client demand for scaling up viral medicines, advance new vaccine process development lines, and support Ontario’s preparedness for future public health emergencies with an off-the-shelf viral enhancement kit that will amplify vaccine production multifold.
Virica Biotech launched its first Process Innovation Facility in May 2021, in partnership with the Ottawa Health Innovation Hub and University of Ottawa Heart Institute. The global upstream bioprocessing market, which includes viral medicine and vaccines, is predicted to exceed $12.6 billion in 2027, and is expected to grow at an annual rate of 12.8 percent thereafter, notes Diallo.
