Biotechnology company Medicago (TSX:MDG) has secured a $5.6 million milestone payment from the federal government as the company nears completion of a new vaccine plant in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina intended to respond to future pandemics.
Quebec City, Canada-based Medicago could receive up to $21 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which last August pledged the money to the company to demonstrate scalable manufacturing of its vaccines using its proprietary technology. The facility is part of DARPA’s “Blue Angel” project, which aims to develop new ways to rapidly produce large amounts of vaccine in response to infectious disease and bioterror threats. Medicago has been awarded $16.3 million in milestones to date.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
Medicago’s technology can make virus-like particles from tobacco plants. The company says that the technology offers speed and cost advantages compared to other vaccine technologies, which makes it particularly suited to respond to pandemic strikes.
Mike Wanner, vice president of Medicago’s U.S. operations, projects that the facility will be operational in the second half of 2011. The company expects the facility will have the capacity to produce 10 million doses of influenza vaccine a month with the capacity to expand in the future.
