Ceva expands vaccine production

Ceva Biomune recently broke ground on a new poultry vaccine production plant in Lenexa, Kan.

A subsidiary of Ceva Santé Animale, the company expects its operation to open in the third quarter of 2010. It will create an estimated 80 new jobs.

When the facility is in operation, the company foresees an increase in Marek’s vaccine production by more than fivefold. It also expects to nearly double its use of eggs per week for virus production.

The investment in the new 53,000-square-foot facility demonstrates the company’s commitment to poultry vaccines, according to President Dr. Arnaud Bourgeois. It is part of a $100 million investment commitment by Ceva in the poultry industry through 2010.