by Sabrina Cencig, Team Manager, Bioprocess Specialist EMEA, Pall Corporation
Today, within the pandemic situation, mRNA or gene therapy is no longer unknown to the average person. Whether you are a gardener, computer engineer, or dentist, we have all received an accelerated course on how biologics are manufactured. This real-life situation has provided an opportunity for many to easily understand how a vaccine can be made rapidly. In some ways this new depth of knowledge also had the ability to bring about new fears. Strange names and acronyms like Adenovirus, AAV, and mRNA appeared as quickly as these new vaccines were manufactured. The more we read about them, the more they began to be developed, there was a never-ending succession of new therapeutics marching through a continuously open door. So, are we living in a horror movie??? Will we see crawling hands scurrying across the floor of manufacturing plants or zombies coming back to life after touching these new products? I don’t think so! At least, never seen with the eyes of this biologist!
The first question one may ask is where do these new vaccines come from and why don’t we return to the old type of vaccine? We know how to manufacture them, and we know the potency of vaccination as we have been using them for so long. The simple answer is that in today’s world we have to build new strategies. Not because the old vaccines have old fashioned purification methods, but simply because the production line is out of date, and the scale is now too small for today’s market.
Read more on Labcompare.