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Australia unveils plans for new flu vaccine facility

16 November 2020 | News

Complex to be the largest in the southern hemisphere

Image credit- shutterstock.com

Image credit- shutterstock.com

The Australian government has announced that the largest flu vaccine manufacturing plant in the southern hemisphere will be built in Melbourne, in an effort to make sure Australia has stockpiles of critical vaccines and antivenoms in the future.

It is expected to offer approximately 1300 new jobs. The facility is intended to be operational by 2026. It will be built in Tullamarine, in the Melbourne Airport Business Park

Seqirus, a wholly owned subsidiary of CSL Limited, will invest more than AUD$800 million in capital expenditure to construct the facility.

The government will also contribute to the project, reinforcing Victoria’s already globally significant medical research and biotechnology community.

The state-of-the-art facility will use innovative cell-based technology to produce influenza vaccines for use in both influenza pandemics and seasonal vaccination programs – and will be the only cell-based influenza vaccine manufacturing facility in the Southern Hemisphere.

The facility will also manufacture Seqirus’ proprietary adjuvant MF59® - a substance added to some vaccines to improve immune response and to reduce the amount of antigen needed for each vaccine, enabling more doses to be manufactured more rapidly.

In addition, the facility will produce unique products important to Australia’s public health needs – including antivenom for Australian snakes, spiders and marine creatures, and the world’s only human vaccine for Q-Fever.

This announcement follows Seqirus's agreement with the Australian Government to secure the ongoing onshore manufacture and supply over 10 years of influenza pandemic vaccines, anti-venoms and Q-Fever vaccine.

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