Today, Batavia Biosciences announces its partnership with an international consortium coordinated by PATH, aiming to develop and manufacture safer novel oral poliovirus vaccines (nOPV). The project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has the potential to bolster efforts to sustain a polio-free world after the disease has been eradicated.

With a 99% reduction in polio cases worldwide since 1988, the global eradication of polio is now in sight. In support of the polio eradication initiative, nOPV candidates are being developed that are intended to reduce the risk from rare cases of vaccine-associated disease. The novel strains are intended to be stockpiled as protection against possible future outbreaks after polio has been eradicated.

The novel candidate vaccine strains currently in manufacturing at Batavia Biosciences have been developed by the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) in the United Kingdom, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). Batavia Biosciences contributes its extensive polio vaccine development experience and works closely with one of the world’s leading OPV vaccine manufacturers, BioFarma, in Indonesia, under the nOPV consortium managed by PATH.

Chris Yallop, CSO of Batavia Biosciences, states: “With such a consortium, I am convinced that we will succeed in taking the next step in the development of this much-needed vaccine.”

Menzo Havenga, CEO of Batavia Biosciences, states: “We are proud to work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH, NIBSC, and BioFarma, and on the goal of bringing a safer oral polio vaccine to help keep the world polio-free.”