Dddddd

REVIEW

Vaccine Process Technology

Jessica O. Josefsberg,1 Barry Buckland2

1

BioEdge Consulting, LLC, 100 Jefferson Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida

Department of Biochemical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place,

London, UK; telephone: 646-3692034; fax 305-675-2713; e-mail: buckland@biologicb.com

2

Received 2 December 2011; revision received 24 February 2012; accepted 27 February 2012

Published online 30 March 2012 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/bit.24493

ABSTRACT: The evolution of vaccines (e.g., live attenuated,

recombinant) and vaccine production methods (e.g., in ovo,

cell culture) are intimately tied to each other. As vaccine

technology has advanced, the methods to produce the

vaccine have advanced and new vaccine opportunities

have been created. These technologies will continue to

evolve as we strive for safer and more immunogenic vaccines

and as our understanding of biology improves. The evolution of vaccine process technology has occurred in parallel to

the remarkable growth in the development of therapeutic

proteins as products; therefore, recent vaccine innovations

can leverage the progress made in the broader biotechnology

industry. Numerous important legacy vaccines are still in

use today despite their traditional manufacturing processes,

with further development focusing on improving stability

(e.g., novel excipients) and updating formulation (e.g.,

combination vaccines) and delivery methods (e.g., skin

patches). Modern vaccine development is currently exploiting a wide array of novel technologies to create safer and

more efficacious vaccines including: viral vectors produced

in animal cells, virus-like particles produced in yeast or

insect cells, polysaccharide conjugation to carrier proteins,

DNA plasmids produced in E. coli, and therapeutic cancer

vaccines created by in vitro activation of patient leukocytes.

Purification advances (e.g., membrane adsorption,...