Perhaps no class of medicine saves more lives each year than vaccines and this sector is expected to grow 12% annually. From childhood diseases to adult endemic disease to emerging viral threats such as the H1N1 influenza of 2009, effective new or improved vaccines are always needed.
A number of disease causing viruses such as HIV, influenza, and hepatitis are part of the broad class referred to as "enveloped viruses." After these viruses infect a person, they replicate inside the infected cells, and the mature virus exits the cell with an acquired coat or envelope that disguises it from the body's immune system.
We are developing technologies to produce vaccines in our proprietary modified tissue culture cells. When these cells are used as hosts for virus infection the subsequent viral particles also have enhanced interaction with the immune system, and we are developing these modified viral particles as effective vaccines.
Pearl Lifescience develops vaccine technologies that utilize cell culture based vaccine production. Our methods incorporate sterile bioreactors and rapid downstream processing. The majority of vaccines throughout the world are produced in chicken embryos, a slow process that requires a supply of suitable eggs and extensive processing.
