-largest livestock vaccine manufacturing
facility in Canada-
BELLEVILLE, ON,
April 29 /PRNewswire/ - Bioniche Life
Sciences Inc. (TSX:BNC) (ASX:BNC), a research-based,
technology-driven Canadian biopharmaceutical company, today
officially opened its new Animal Health and Food Safety Vaccine
Manufacturing Centre at its corporate headquarters in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. This facility
represents the largest livestock vaccine manufacturing facility in
Canada, with capacity to supply
Canadian animal vaccine requirements and to meet international
regulatory standards (Good Manufacturing Practice - GMP).
This expansion provides Bioniche with the capability to produce
a wide spectrum of vaccines, with fermentation capabilities of up
to 5,000 litres and all downstream processing and supporting
utilities. The project was made possible through financial support
from the following government agencies:
- Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade (Advanced
Manufacturing Investment Strategy Program) - $10 million repayable contribution
- Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada (Agri-Opportunities Program)
- $5 million repayable
contribution
- Business Development Bank of Canada - $5
million repayable contribution
- Industry Canada (Industrial
Technologies Office) - $5 million
repayable contribution
"This government funding was critical to achieve
our vision for a state-of-the-art Canadian vaccine manufacturing
facility to produce a range of vaccines to prevent illnesses in
animals and to reduce the likelihood of human illness from animal
diseases," said Graeme McRae,
Chairman, President & CEO of Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. "We
are proud of our internal Manufacturing Operations team that worked
with a Montreal-based engineering
firm and a Belleville-based
general construction contractor to complete the project.
Approximately 90% of the equipment purchased for the facility was
made in Canada."
"The Animal Health and Food Safety Vaccine
Manufacturing Centre has been designed and built to meet the
highest manufacturing standards for future supply of animal
vaccines into global markets," said Mohamed
Elrafih, Vice-President of Manufacturing Operations at
Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. "19 employees have been hired for the
Vaccine Manufacturing Centre to date, with a further 7 employees
recently hired in other areas of the facility in indirect support
positions. An additional 15 to 20 employees are expected to be
hired over the next 18 months."
Once fully commissioned, the first product to be
manufactured in the Centre will be the Company's E. coli
O157 cattle vaccine - EconicheTM -
directed to reducing the level of this deadly pathogen in water,
food and the environment and, in turn, help minimize the potential
for infection of humans.
The E. coli O157 organism causes no
disease in cattle, but cattle are the primary reservoir for it.
E. coli O157 can cause severe illness and can even be fatal
when ingested by humans from contaminated meat, vegetables, other
food products, or water. Human exposure and infection with E.
coli O157 can result in serious health consequences, including
abdominal pain and severe bloody diarrhea. In severe cases, kidney
damage can occur and progress to serious complications and even
death. Lingering, long-term medical conditions can persist in
individuals exposed to the bacterium. These include post-infectious
irritable bowel syndrome (PI-IBS), reduced kidney function,
diabetes, hypertension and reactive arthritis.
At the Official Opening of the Vaccine
Manufacturing Centre today, the Company also recognized additional
government support associated with its vaccine development. The
Rural Economic Development (RED) Program of the Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs provided a $2 million grant in 2007 to the Company in
support of market development related to the Company's E.
coli O157 cattle vaccine. More recently (April, 2010), the
Company received an investment of $750,000 (repayable loan) from the Federal
Economic Development Agency for Southern
Ontario (FedDev Ontario) for the development of a
pilot-scale fermentation facility adjacent to the new Vaccine
Manufacturing Centre. This facility houses fermentation equipment
and downstream processing to allow small-scale, bench-top processes
to be scaled up and readied for commercial-scale production in the
Vaccine Manufacturing Centre.
The Company has developed substantial strategic
information (trade secret) expertise on inducing bacteria to
produce commercial quantities of vaccination proteins during
fermentation. These technologies may also be applicable to the
development of additional animal health and food safety vaccines,
including for Salmonella and Rhodococcus equi, for
which the Company is already supporting research and development
work.
About the Bioniche E. coli
O157 Vaccine
(EconicheTM)
The Food Safety Division of Bioniche Life
Sciences Inc. has worked with Canadian university researchers, in
particular, Dr. Brett Finlay and his
team at the University of British
Columbia, to develop and license a cattle vaccine against
E. coli O157. This vaccine - trademarked
EconicheTM - is meant to reduce the level
of the bacterium in water, food and the environment and, in turn,
reduce the potential infection of humans. It has been fully
licensed in Canada since October,
2008. A conditional license is pending in the U.S.
EconicheTM has the potential to
significantly reduce the amount of E. coli O157 shed into
the environment by beef and dairy cattle. This organism does not
cause illness in cattle, but cattle are the primary reservoir for
it. Vaccination of cattle with EconicheTM
can help reduce the risk of food and waterborne contamination with
E. coli O157.
EconicheTM has been developed by a
strategic alliance formed in September, 2000 and composed of the
University of British Columbia (UBC),
the Alberta Research Council
(ARC), the University of Saskatchewan's
Vaccine & Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), and Bioniche,
which holds the rights for worldwide commercialization of the
vaccine.
More about E. coli
O157
An estimated 100,000 cases of human infection
with the E. coli O157 organism are reported each year in
North America. Two to seven per
cent of those people develop haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a
disease characterized by kidney failure. Five percent of HUS
patients die, many of them children and senior citizens, whose
kidneys are more sensitive to damage.
About Bioniche Life Sciences Inc.
Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. is a research-based,
technology-driven Canadian biopharmaceutical company focused on the
discovery, development, manufacturing, and marketing of proprietary
products for human and animal health markets worldwide. The
fully-integrated company employs more than 200 skilled personnel
and has three operating divisions: Human Health, Animal Health, and
Food Safety. The Company's primary goal is to develop proprietary
cancer therapies supported by revenues from marketed products in
human and animal health. For more information, please visit
www.Bioniche.com.
Except for historical information, this news
release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect the
Company's current expectation regarding future events. These
forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties, which
may cause, but are not limited to, changing market conditions, the
successful and timely completion of clinical studies, the
establishment of corporate alliances, the impact of competitive
products and pricing, new product development, uncertainties
related to the regulatory approval process, and other risks
detailed from time to time in the Company's ongoing quarterly and
annual reporting.
SOURCE Bioniche Life Sciences Inc.