Business
Microbix Enters into Joint Venture in China to Build and Operate One of the Largest Influenza Vaccine Manufacturing Facilities in the World
Please note that Microbix will hold a news conference today at 11 a.m. at the Ivey-ING Leadership...
About this update from Microbix Biosystems Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nPlease note that Microbix will hold a news conference today at 11 a.m. at\n\n\nthe Ivey-ING Leadership Centre, The Exchange Tower, 130 King St. West,\n\n\nToronto.\n\n\nTORONTO, June 23 /CNW/ - Canadian company Microbix Biosystems Inc.\n(TSX:MBX), located in Toronto, announced today that it has entered into a\ndefinitive agreement with the Hunan Provincial Government to establish a\nmanufacturing facility in China that will produce influenza vaccine using\nMicrobix' VIRUSMAX(TM) technology.\n\n\nJointly owned by Microbix and the Hunan Provincial Government, the\n$200-million facility will be one of the largest influenza vaccine plants in\nthe world. It is expected to be operational in 2013 and will have a capacity\nto produce 100 million doses of flu vaccine a year.\n\n\nThe manufacturing plant will be located in the Hunan Liuyang Biomedical\nIndustrial Park in Hunan Province, population 70 million, near the capital\ncity of Changsha. The facility will incorporate Microbix' proprietary\nVIRUSMAX(TM) technology.\n\n\nThe signing of the agreement was the centerpiece announcement at the 2008\nNational Bioindustry Convention in Changsha this past weekend. William J.\nGastle, CEO of Microbix, was accompanied by a delegation of Canadian and\nChinese Government officials.\n\n\nMr. Gastle also announced at the event that, as a token of goodwill and\nfriendship, Microbix will be making a gift to the Chinese people. The company\nwill commission a full-scale replica of Dr. Norman Bethune's childhood home in\nGravenhurst, Ontario. The house will be erected on the grounds of the vaccine\nfacility in Changsha. Dr. Bethune is revered in China for saving the lives of\nthousands of its citizens through his personal sacrifice, innovation and\nleadership in medicine.\n\n\nChina is one of the largest countries in the world that currently does\nnot have domestic manufacturing capacity to supply its population with\nseasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines. Mr. Chen Zhaoxiong, Vice Governor of\nHunan, explained that "currently, only about 2 per cent of the age group most\nsusceptible to influenza is able to get vaccine in China - compared to 20 per\ncent in advanced countries."\n\n\nAccess to VIRUSMAX(TM) is therefore of enormous benefit, especially in\nthe event of a pandemic, since the technology will enable the new facility to\np...