Medford, Mass. — Sunflower Therapeutics has received a $2 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to advance continuous bioprocessing technology for virus-like particle manufacturing.
The funding, provided over more than two years, will support the company’s project to develop continuous cell disruption technology for commercial-scale production of virus-like particles, or VLPs.
Sunflower said the project will build on successful Phase I work and focus on creating an automated, continuous cell disruption platform designed to simplify VLP recovery and reduce manufacturing costs.
The project is led by Kerry Love, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunflower Therapeutics.
“In Phase I, we demonstrated the commercial potential of continuous cell disruption to make VLP manufacturing significantly more cost-effective,” said Michael Sheets-Wheeler, Ph.D., Associate Director of Research and Development at Sunflower Therapeutics.
“This Phase II award enables us to develop this technology into a commercially ready continuous cell disruption unit operation that will streamline the vaccine manufacturing process, making these critical treatments available to all who need them and furthering our mission to democratize biomanufacturing,” Sheets-Wheeler said.
VLPs are used as vaccine platforms because they can generate strong immune responses without containing infectious genetic material. They are already used in approved vaccines for hepatitis B, malaria and human papillomavirus.
Sunflower said conventional batch cultivation and harvesting methods can make VLP manufacturing expensive, limiting access to vaccines, particularly in lower-income regions.
The company’s proposed continuous process is intended to combine higher production efficiency with a simpler recovery process. Sunflower said the approach could lower costs, reduce the risk of vaccine shortages and support decentralized manufacturing in smaller facilities.
The funding was awarded under National Institutes of Health Award No. 4R44AI191984-02.
