The vaccine is being developed by the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation (MMRF), a non-profit subsidiary of the Hennepin Healthcare System, Inc. in Minneapolis, MN.
The research is funded by a three-year grant to the MMRF from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and will “help with the unbiased epidemic that is causing great damage to the people of this country and around the world,” Tim Compton, Avista’s vice president of business development told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.
Under the services agreement, Avista Pharma Solutions will support the development and manufacturing of the small molecule (hapten) associated with the vaccine.
The contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) will produce a cGMP batch of the molecule to support manufacturing of the vaccine and finished dosage form for the first-in-human studies.
“Currently we are engaged through the first phase in human production of the hapten, but hope to continue supporting and working with MMRF as future development milestones are achieved,” explained Compton.