Charles River Laboratories is partnering with Medigen Vaccine Biologics (MVC) to help develop a next-generation enterovirus vaccine aimed at protecting against a broader range of these common and sometimes dangerous viruses.
Enteroviruses cause illnesses ranging from mild hand-foot-and-mouth disease to severe neurological complications, particularly in young children. Medigen already markets Envacgen, an enterovirus 71 (EV71) vaccine approved in Taiwan and Vietnam, and is now developing a shot designed to cover broader enterovirus strains.
What Charles River brings
Charles River will provide the technical backbone: characterization and validation of the virus seed bank, chemistry-manufacturing-and-controls (CMC) work, analytical platforms including next-generation sequencing, biologics and virology testing, non-clinical development, and regulatory science. The collaboration is aimed at IND-enabling studies and generating data for global investigational new drug applications and future clinical trials. “We are excited to collaborate with MVC and apply our testing and NGS expertise for vaccine development,” said Charles River’s Kerstin Dolph.
Why it matters
Broad enterovirus protection is an unmet need, especially in Asia-Pacific regions with recurrent outbreaks. Deals like this — pairing a vaccine developer with a large contract-research organization — are how many programs get the manufacturing and regulatory rigor needed to reach the clinic.