IN THE big game waged by pharmaceutical companies and governments on the production of vaccines against Covid-19 Lazio can also do its part. This was announced in early March by the Regional Health Councilor, Alessio D’Amato, who urged the government on the possibility of producing the Russian vaccine. Sputnik right in the region.
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Many pharmaceutical companies present in the Lazio region have in fact started the first talks with the Russian authorities after the open dialogue between the Spallanzani Institute in Rome and the Russian research center Gamaleya, where the vaccine was made.
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And so, while the experimentation process of Sputnik at Spallanzani proceeds, many Lazio industries are moving to transform their factories into production sites.
Currently only the Catalent it is active in one of the final stages of the long vaccine supply chain, namely the filling. In fact, the vaccines are placed in the vials at the Anagni plant AstraZeneca e Johnson&Jonhson.
And Catalent has ended up in the European storm in recent weeks when the news emerged that 29 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine stored in the Anagni plant would not have been distributed to the countries of the European Union. The Anglo-German company responded by stating that 13 million of those doses would go to Covax countries (the low-income countries) and the rest to Europe. Regardless of the controversy, the news clarified the decisive role of Anagni’s Catalent in the last phase of the vaccine production, the infialamento, confirming that the Lazio plant is a strategic hub for the distribution of whey in Europe and outside Europe.
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In addition to the Catalent, also the Biomedica Foscama of Ferentino is ready to participate in the vaccine filling part and has been included in the list drawn up by the Ministry of Economic Development of Italian companies that could make their contribution to the production of anti-Covid serums.
The pharmaceutical district of Frosinone-Latina, one of the largest national hubs in the pharmaceutical sector, thus confirms itself as a pole of excellence, and could become the ideal territory where to concentrate the production of Sputnik.
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Both the Biomedica Foscama of Ferentino and the Acs Dobfar di Anagni (Italian chemical-pharmaceutical company) have started a dialogue to participate in the final stages of vaccine production and Biomedica Foscama has already invested 10 million euros to be ready.
Not too far from the Anagni area, also the establishment Sanofi is working to make its contribution in the production of the vaccine. In this case in collaboration with the Gsk for the marketing of a vaccine that is also resistant to variants.
The process to be able to produce the vaccine in existing plants is very complex, because it requires a productive transformation and requires the presence of compatible bioreactors for this kind of serum. This requires companies to make significant investments to reorganize their production chain and partly distort their original industrial characteristics.
The advanced position of Lazio also arises from the role played by companies in the Region already in the study phase of the vaccine itself. The vaccine AstraZeneca, created in collaboration with the center Irbm of Pomezia, but also the vaccine ReiThera. Phase one testing of this vaccine began last August and was conducted on about 100 volunteers.
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After the presentation of the results at the Spallanzani Institute, which took place on 5 January, we moved on to phase two and from there we will move on to phase three of the experimentation. Once approved, ReiThera will be able to deliver 100 million doses every year for what looks like the first Italian vaccine. Produced in Castel Romano, a few kilometers south of the capital.
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