Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health opened a state-of-the-art production center for veterinary vaccines against bacterial infections on Thursday, April 22. The new facility is located at Biosciences Center Boxmeer, the Netherlands, one of the world’s largest veterinary R&D and manufacturing facilities and a cornerstone of the company’s global vaccine R&D and production network.
The company is investing US$22 million in the new building, which has increased the floor space of the bacterial vaccine production unit by more than three-fold from approximately 1500 to over 5500 m2. It will have four hi-tech production lines for bacterial vaccines with a media preparation capacity in fermentors ranging from 200 to 1500 liters. The availability of state-of-the-art fermentors and clean rooms, in combination with efficient, integrated up-/downstream processing operations and automation makes the new unit a landmark in veterinary bacterial vaccine manufacturing.
The official opening of the new manufacturing was performed by Chris Buijink, secretary-general of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, and celebrated with a dedicated scientific symposium titled “Research and Technology in Bacterial Vaccine Development: Opportunities for a One Health Approach.”
The facility, under construction since December 2007, is fully compliant with current and anticipated regulatory requirements on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for veterinary medicines, with special sectors for bio-contained zones. In addition, the new facility allows production capacity to be expanded in order to meet the increasing demand for veterinary vaccines.
