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Reporters/Editors: ^China grants patent protection to Microbix for its influenza vaccine yield enhancement technology
TORONTO, May 27 /CNW/ - Microbix Biosystems Inc. (TSX:MBX) has been granted a patent by the State...
About this update from Microbix Biosystems Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nTORONTO, May 27 /CNW/ - Microbix Biosystems Inc. (TSX:MBX) has been\ngranted a patent by the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's\nRepublic of China for its VIRUSMAX(TM) technology which enables egg-based\nvaccine manufacturers to significantly increase the amount of influenza\nvaccine they produce each year.\n\n\n"This is a very important emerging market for our discovery, so we're\nexcited by this development as we now have strong patent protection in this\ncountry of 1.3 billion people," said William J. Gastle, CEO of Microbix. China\nis one of the largest countries in the world that does not have domestic\nmanufacturing capacity to supply its population with seasonal and pandemic\ninfluenza vaccine and would benefit from having access to this technology.\n\n\nVIRUSMAX(TM) has enormous implications for protecting more of the world's\npopulation during a pandemic. The entire annual global flu vaccine production\ncapacity is currently only about 350 million doses.\n\n\nThere are now only four countries that produce enough vaccine to immunize\ntheir own populations - Canada, France, Belgium and Australia. Every other\ncountry lacks the manufacturing capacity to meet domestic needs. VIRUSMAX(TM)\ncan enable manufacturers to at least double the amount of influenza vaccine\nthey produce, reducing dependence on imported supplies.\n\n\nVIRUSMAX(TM) can be implemented quickly and cost-effectively by\nmanufacturers, allowing them to ramp up production in a matter of months.\n\n\nThe World Health Organization, in its Global Vaccine Action Plan, noted\nthat if an influenza pandemic were to occur, the potential vaccine supply\nwould fall far short of the amount needed. Among all the strategies outlined\nin the WHO's Action Plan, increased production yields was identified as "the\nmost direct mechanism to make more doses available."\n\n\nVIRUSMAX(TM) has already been granted patents in Canada, the U.S., India\nand Australia. A number of other patent applications in major markets are\ncurrently pending.\n\n\nMicrobix specializes in developing proprietary biological technologies,\nincluding biotherapeutic drugs, vaccine technologies and animal reproduction\ntechnologies. It has been researching and developing the flu vaccine yield\nenhancement technology for a number of years, with a team at the comp...