Vaccine technology commercial vaccines

Two commercial vaccines based on virosome technology are currendy on the market. Epaxal (Berna Biotech Ltd, Bern, Switzerland), a hepatitis A vaccine, has inactivated hepatitis A virus particles adsorbed on the surface of the immunopotentiating reconstituted influenza virosomes (IRIV). In Inflexal V (Berna Biotech Ltd) the virosome components themselves are the vaccine protective antigens (185). Recently, in phase I study liposome-encapsulated malaria vaccine (containing monophosphoryl lipid A as adjuvant in the bilayer), the formulation showed induction of higher level of anti-malaria antibody in human volunteers (186). Some liposomal formulations are under investigation in preclinical studies against Yersina pestis, ricin toxin and Ebola Zaire virus (77, 187). 

Yeast expression vectors have been among those most commonly used since the beginning of gene technology. Vectors based on baker s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, have been especially popular for robust expression of many types of recombinant proteins [90]. For instance, the first commercially available recombinant vaccine, the hepatitis B surface antigen vaccine, was produced from an S. cerevisiae vector [91]. Many other recombinant proteins have also been efficiently expressed in yeast including al-Antitrypsin [92], insulin [93], Epstein-Barr virus envelope protein [94], superoxide dismutase [95] and interferon-a [90]. 

Recombinant DNA technology is a major growth industry and is being exploited commercially to produce a range of products, including vaccines, drugs and enzymes. 

As of today, there are no commercially available pharmaceutical products of this technology. The pharmaceutical industry however, is involved in developing nanoparticle-based delivery systems. Use of nanospheres to modify the blood-brain barrier (BBB)—limiting characteristics of the drug enables targeted brain delivery via BBB transporters and provides a sustained release in brain tissue and vaccine delivery systems to deliver therapeutic protein antigens into the potent immune cells are under investigation.103... 

Antibody therapeutics can potentially treat diseases that can be as diverse as autoimmune disorders to cancer and infectious diseases. Antibodies are currently rated as an important and growing class of biotherapeutics. Other than vaccines, monoclonal antibodies currently in development outnumber all other classes of therapeutics. Recombination technology plays a key role in the development and commercialization of therapeutic antibodies. In fact, eight of nine antibody products on the... 

Three major categories of commercially valuable products highlight the technical evolution of animal cell culture viral vaccines, recombinant glycosylated proteins, and monoclonal antibodies. Historical and general background information concerning these technologies are presented... 

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