The Butantan Institute delivers, this Friday (25), a new vaccine production center in the city of São Paulo. The new immunizing factory will have production capacity on five different vaccine platforms and biosafety level 3one of the highest in the pharmaceutical sector.
The work, which began in November 2020, has the structure ready. At this moment, the space receives the first equipment, with completion of this stage scheduled for July. After that, the certification, qualification and automation phasewhich should be completed in February 2023, allowing the start of activities.
The new space will expand the laboratory autonomy for the production of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), the raw material for vaccines, on an industrial scale, according to the institute. Initially, vaccines for Covid-19, rabies, hepatitis A and Zika may be manufactured. The installed production capacity of the new plant is 100 million doses per year, in a built-up area of 11,000 m².
To build a vaccine factory that can be adapted for the production of different immunizing agents in a short period of time, the Butantan Institute relied on the efforts of a public-private partnership. The resources of the state government were added to the contribution of R$ 189 million from 75 companies and individuals.
about the factory
As the new factory is fully automated, all approvals, releases and production steps will be digital, paperless and with traceable data. In addition, 100 to 150 people are expected to work in the new space.
Biosecurity level 3, present in one of the areas of the factory, will allow the manipulation of viruses, without risk of leakage. With the safety certification, it will be possible to produce from simple to more complex vaccines.
According to Butantan, the new space is in line with the rules and regulations of the World Health Organization (WHO), the North American Medicines Agency (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Source: CNN Brasil
