CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR VACCINE & PROTEIN THERAPEUTICS PROCESS DEVELOPMENT (VAKSIN)

VAKSIN is a proposed Centre of Excellence for Vaccine & Protein Therapeutics Process Development to be established between TIDREC, University of Malaya and various external vaccine technology partners. VAKSIN will focus on vaccine process development needs bringing innovation from laboratories to the vaccine manufacturers. The initiative will tap into the opportunity to address the gap in vaccine development especially focusing on the need for religious and ‘halal’ vaccines. Core activities in VAKSIN include:

• Vaccine process development – VAKSIN will initiate local vaccine development programs in partnerships with stakeholders and researchers.  The vaccine projects are identified based on their relevance to Malaysia and South East Asian region, especially targeting ‘halal’ vaccine needs and neglected diseases of the impoverished.  The goal is to take vaccines from research laboratories through the approval stage and once the commercialization stage is achieved, the vaccines are licensed to partnering vaccine manufacturers to leverage on their manufacturing expertise and distribution network.

• Technology transfer and training of skilled workforce – VAKSIN will leverage on its partners for the relevant technologies needed to expedite the vaccine process development.  Being at the UM, VAKSIN will attract the best minds to be among the skilled workforce trained to cater for the burgeoning demand of the vaccine industry.

• Resource centre for Quality Assurance, Evaluation and Testing – VAKSIN will partner with the relevant agencies and authorities to provide support for QA, Evaluation and Testing for vaccines needed by stakeholders

Under the current initial initiative, several Malaysian scientists from TIDREC UM have already been trained at the Baylor College of Medicine - Texas Children’s Hospital Vaccine Development Centre, one of the world’s leading medical institution, in various aspects of vaccine development in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Hotez. TIDREC UM scientists were trained in various aspects of vaccine development include upstream and downstream processing, quality control and quality assurance, as well as regulatory support for preparation of clinical trial.