biodefense

Texas BioPharm Landscape is Changing: Texas A&M Receives Grant for Flu Vaccine Facility

Texas A&M University announced they received a $91 million federally funded grant for a Flu Vaccine Facility. This flu vaccine production facility is a small portion of the contract Texas A&M Systems received recently to become one of three national biodefense centers in the US. The Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing will help develop and manufacture vaccines in the occurrence of a pandemic or bioterrorism.

To have a facility with the ability to mass produce millions of vaccines in only four months in the US would mean events such as the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic or the most recent 2012 flu vaccine shortage would potentially occur less frequently and with less national impact.

Fidelis Companies, formerly KAT & Associates, was recently honored by the Aggie 100 as the 43rd Fastest Growing Aggie Owned/Operated business worldwide. As an Aggie owned company based approximately 3 hours from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas we not only have personal ties to the opportunities this funding and facility will offer A&M and the state of Texas, but with a division dedicated specifically to specialized areas of BioPharm, we are aware of it’s effects within the biotech sector and future of biopharmaceutical research and development.

Although the Center of Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing’s current foundation is in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, the opportunities provided by the contract could stretch into other areas of the biopharm world. In the article, “Texas A&M System Awarded $285.6 Million Contract to Develop Center for Innovation” by Texas A&M University Department of Biomedical Engineering, an example of opportunities beyond manufacturing include research and development in areas including, but possibly not limited to, cancer research.

To view the full article on the TAMUS Flu Vaccine Facility, please visit: http://ow.ly/jyncT

To view the full article on the Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing, please visit http://ow.ly/jyoBV