Vaccine development

Vaccines have significantly decreased the burden of infectious diseases worldwide since the development of the first vaccine more than 200 years ago by Edward Jenner, leading to the eradication of smallpox. In recent years, the rapid spread of severe infections by viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, HIV, H1N1, Ebola, and Zika has highlighted the critical need for the rapid development of vaccines against previously unknown pathogens to effectively deal with pandemics such as COVID-19. The vaccine development landscape covers a range of approaches, from tried and true to novel. Traditional methods include the development of attenuated pathogens, nucleic acids, or proteins that confer immunity, while next-generation discovery methods, such as immunoinformatics-guided reverse vaccinology, allow faster development and more flexibility for downstream modification (Ada et al. 2018).

Successful vaccine candidates must be rapidly developed, manufactured at large scale, readily distributed and adopted, and made broadly accessible (Thanh Le et al. 2020). In this section we delve into the challenges researchers face during the vaccine development process and talk about tools and techniques that can help overcome these challenges. Takara Bio is proud to be on the front line in the fight to defeat the coronavirus by enabling innovative vaccine development and better detection through the application of our products and technologies. Our significant contribution to the effort includes our support of other groups' research, development, and product manufacturing. We are currently partnering with Osaka University and AnGes for the development of a DNA vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

Explore the pages below to learn how Takara Bio can support each step of your vaccine-development process.

References

Ada, K. et al. Current progress of immunoinformatics approach harnessed for cellular- and antibody-dependent vaccine design. Pathogens and Global Health 112, 123–131 (2018).

Thanh Le, T. et al. The COVID-19 vaccine development landscape. Nature 19, 305–306 (2020).