VaxGen has opened its new biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in South San Francisco, Calif. The facility includes 17,000 square feet for the production of complex proteins made through recombinant bacterial fermentation and mammalian cell culture. This type of manufacturing is used to make vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and therapeutic proteins.

The new facility is designed to manufacture VaxGen's anthrax vaccine and AIDS vaccine candidates, as well as other biopharmaceuticals.

"The dedication of this state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is a significant milestone for VaxGen," said Lance K. Gordon, VaxGen's chief executive officer. "It adds an important component to our late-stage product development capability, including the capacity for commercial manufacturing. This is an asset that few other development-stage biopharmaceutical companies share. With process development activities underway, the facility is already supporting a U.S. government contract to develop a recombinant anthrax vaccine."

The development of VaxGen's South San Francisco facility is part of VaxGen 's broader manufacturing strategy, which includes Celltrion Inc, a joint venture between VaxGen and South Korean partners Nexol Corp., KT&G and J. Stephen & Co. Ventures Ltd. Under this joint venture, a 23-acre biologics manufacturing facility is under development in Incheon, South Korea. "I believe this puts VaxGen in an excellent position not only to develop its own products but to partner with other biopharmaceutical companies," Gordon said.