BioVectra opening new mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in P.E.I. as part of $90M expansion – CBC.ca

Prince Edward Island

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Posted: November 17, 2023

Charlottetown-based pharmaceutical company BioVectra isgetting ready to open up new facilities in P.E.I. and Nova Scotia as part of a $90-million expansion.

The new facilities include one of Canada's first mRNA vaccine biomanufacturingcentres in Charlottetown. There is also a new biologicsfermentation suite in Windsor, N.S., and development laboratories in both provinces.

The P.E.I. and federal governments helped fund the expansion.

"It's a day of celebration. It's a day of pride for all of us,"said CEO Oliver Technow.

"Our aim is to be able to supply all Canadians with mRNA therapeutics when they need them."

CBCNews was given an early tour of the vaccine and biomanufacturing centre. It's a large additionwhich is attachedtoexisting buildings near the Charlottetown Airport.

BioVectrasays the facility will be unlike any other in the country.

The new centre includes high-tech equipment. That includes two large robotic "filling isolators" worth $4 million each that fill up vaccine vials and cap themwithout any human hands touching the product until it's sealed.

The machines can fill 100 vials at a time, all within minutes.

Bryan Lowery is vice-presidentof the manufacturing centre. He said the machines willallowmedicationsto stay under sterile conditions.

"It's acomputerized robotic system with two or three motorized arms on the inside of the unit itself," Lowery said. "They actually do all the movements ... that normally a human would be doing."

Lowery said these are the first robotic filling units he's seen after working in the industry for more than a decade.

"It's, I believe, the direction the industry is going," he said.

The centre also has a large production fermenter which helps grow cells that will eventually be used formedicinalingredients in therapies.

There are also extensivepurification suite areasto ensure steriledrug products.

Lowery said it's exciting to have breakthrough technology on-site.

"It's a huge step forward for the company," he said.

Technowsaid a big part of what the company does is to partner with others in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry to help themproduce their products in large quantities.

He said that when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Canada was caught in a situation where it had to rely on other jurisdictions for vaccines.

"Now, we are the first company in Canada that can actually respond to a future health crisis," he said. "We have the manufacturing domestically to supply these therapies and medicines to Canadians when the time comes."

The CEO said themRNAplatformis a very efficient and safe way to improve people's health.

He said BioVectra is not just looking at vaccines needed for future pandemics, but alsofor products used to treatsevere conditions likecancer, and neurological and cardiovascular diseases.

"We will work on a number of new products and new indications that hopefully will help eradicate certain diseases that we currently have no therapies for," he said.

"There's a lot of research underway to tackle diseases in the oncology space as well as the neuroscience space."

The company said there is a lot of demand for the facility already.Technow said confidentiality agreements prevent BioVectra from mentioning exact names of companies, but that it'salready been working with more than a hundredinternational companies.

He said the new facilities are a "big deal."

"What we do here, nobody else can do in Canada," Technow said.

The company expectsto hire another 125 peoplein Atlantic Canada with the expansions. That's on top of about 650 positions that exist already.

The facility is close to being ready. BioVectrawill hold a grand opening, and then the buildings will essentially be sealed up, off-limits tothe general public.

The industry is heavily regulated. There are a number of steps to validate equipment and processes.

BioVectrawill likely work on some clinical trials at first,but the company expects to start having the products it manufactures at the new centreused on a wider scale by next summer.

BioVectra has seven facilities in Atlantic Canada, five of which are in Charlottetown.

Laura Meader is a video journalist for CBC P.E.I.

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BioVectra opening new mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in P.E.I. as part of $90M expansion - CBC.ca