19.10.2021

Univercells builds two production plants in Jumet

The biotechnology company Univercells is setting up its subsidiary Exothera in Jumet, on the former site of the IT company Systemat, to offer complete development and manufacturing services for viral vectors for the development of vaccines and gene therapies. Exothera relies on the use of innovative production platforms to reduce costs and make these treatments accessible to the greatest number of patients.

Eventually, two plants will be operational in Jumet. The first, named Vega, is in the final qualification phase. It has received an initial inspection from the Belgian health authorities (FAMHP) and the objective is to start production in the last quarter of 2021. The second plant, Nova, is scheduled to begin operations in the first half of 2022.

The Vega facility will soon produce the first batches for the phase 3 clinical trial of the American biotech CyanVac. CyanVac is developing a special vaccine against the coronavirus, which will be administered via the nose.

The European Investment Bank has granted two loans to Univercells: one of 20 million euros granted in 2019 to support the development of a portfolio of vaccines against infectious diseases and the other of 30 million euros signed in 2021 to support the construction of the Vega plant.

GSK and imec to collaborate on disruptive innovation in pharma

A collaboration between GSK, a multinational pharma company whose vaccines headquarters are in Wallonia, and imec, a leading nanoelectronics research centre based in Flanders, is bringing together in Belgium two of its most innovative sectors...