Dow Enters NIH Research Agreement to Develop Rapid Vaccine Production System
The Dow Chemical Company has entered into a 4-year, $5.7 million cooperative research agreement from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to apply new technology for rapid development of vaccines. Dow will subcontract with Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular biotechnology to co-develop the technology and with the University of Maryland to provide screening for efficacy.
NIH requested proposals for new vaccine technologies against infectious diseases, including biowarfare agents. Dow's approach will be based on new plant viral particle technology, with vaccine protein production taking place on leaves of greenhouse-grown plants.
Speed of production is the most significant advantage according to Carolyn Fritz, Dow's global business director for Industrial Biotechnology. "We anticipate that our plant technology will cut production time to 3 or 4 months, reduce cost, and produce effective and safe vaccines that can be delivered by capsule or nasal spray. This would be a big improvement over existing technology," said Fritz.
Fraunhofer USA will be exploring complementary technology and will provide a highly developed plant virus platform system with a wide host range. "This plant-based vaccine system will reduce the risk of contamination by animal pathogens," said Barry Marrs, Executive Director of Fraunhofer USA. "We have seen excellent results in preliminary animal testing." The University of Maryland will perform pre-clinical testing.
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