Horizon and The Pirbright Institute to collaborate on vaccine research programme

A partnership has been formed between Horizon Discovery Group and The Pirbright Institute to cover collaborative work on a research programme aimed at deploying cell engineering to increase vaccine yields for livestock.

This partnership extends Horizon’s biomanufacturing capabilities into vaccine manufacture. The development of efficient and affordable vaccines against viral diseases plays an important role in meeting the rapidly growing demand in the AgBio market.

For the most part, vaccines are developed in avian systems, however, yields are often limited by immune responses that can prevent the replication of vaccines viruses. The Pirbright Institute was first to describe a set of immune proteins in chickens, called chIFITMs, which interfere with viral replication in cells. Practical development of this research will be supported by a grant from the Canadian International Development Research Centre — funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

Using its expertise in CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, Horizon will remove the chIFITM genes in chicken cells, thereby overcoming a major barrier for viral replication, which should boost the levels of vaccine virus produced by five to 10-fold. Through substantially increasing yield, it may be possible to decrease manufacturing costs and pricing significantly.

“As a global leader in the application of gene editing to harness the power of the cell, Horizon is transforming the life sciences both in human biology and beyond,” commented Richard Vellacott, interim CEO and CFO,Horizon Discovery. “We are now extending our biomanufacturing expertise into the agriculture market where there is an acute need to protect and improve yields, driven by a rapidly growing global population and increasing environmental pressures. We are pleased to partner with The Pirbright Institute in this project which promises to have a significant impact on vulnerable populations worldwide.”

“The increase in yield sought from this project will make vaccines cheaper to produce and more accessible to livestock owners in developing nations,” said Dr Mark Fife, research lead and Head of the Genetics and Genomics group, The Pirbright Institute. “We will first focus on increasing flu vaccine yields, but the technique can be applied to multiple livestock viral diseases and potentially human diseases as well. Once this technique, for which a patent application has been filed, has been successfully piloted, The Pirbright Institute intends to work with commercial partners, such as Horizon Discovery, who will help bring this new technology to market.”

The project is set to run for four years and this new technology could be commercially available by 2021.