Bandung, Indonesia, Dec 6, 2012 -- (ACN Newswire) -- Melbourne University has announced an agreement with Indonesian vaccine maker Bio Farma to develop a vaccine delivery system that can boost the vaccine effectiveness for a range of infectious diseases, including Hepatitis C, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Hepatitis B and Haemopilus influenza type-B.
"Bio Farma is proud to collaborate with the University of Melbourne. This agreement will surely give us an opportunity to enhance our research capacity," said Iskandar, the President Director of Bio Farma.
Iskandar expressed hope in the future of the collaboration on a vaccine delivery system to boost vaccine effectiveness (vaccine adjuvant) which would lead into a real contribution in the prevention of communicable disease in the world.
Under the proposed arrangement, Melbourne University receives research funding to further evaluate and develop a proof of concept. The research agreement was facilitated by UoM Commercial Ltd, the University's Commercial Engagement Service company and signed on 3 September 2012.
According to Iskandar, the collaboration with Melbourne University will run for 18 months as presently the research is still in the level of proof of concept. Upon getting a result, the next step will be enhanced to a technology license level.
Professor James Angus, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at Melbourne University, remarked that he was delighted to be collaborating with the Board of Bio Farma and its scientific team in relation to developing a novel vaccine platform.
The vaccine platform would lead to better and more efficacious vaccines against infectious diseases. "This agreement reflects the desire for research at the University of Melbourne to be translated into impact and recognizes the importance of collaboration with leading vaccine companies to achieve this goal," said Professor Angus.
Research led by Professor David Jackson's team in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne has shown that a synthetic TLR2 agonist-based adjuvant can enhance immunity and protect animals from viral and bacterial infections.
About the University of Melbourne
Founded in 1853, the University of Melbourne is one of Australia's oldest universities. The University is consistently ranked among the leading universities in the world and number one in Australia. In the prestigious 2012 Times Higher Education rankings of the world's top 400 universities, Melbourne ranked top in Australia and 28 in the world. For more information, please visit http://www.unimelb.edu.au/ .
About Bio Farma
Bio Farma is Indonesia's only vaccine and antisera producer for human. Currently, the needs for Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) vaccines in Indonesia supplied solely by Bio Farma by manufacturing and distributing over 1.7 billion doses of vaccine annually to meet the needs of EPI vaccine in the national immunization program. Bio Farma has an outstanding international reputation based on the WHO prequalification for all of its EPI vaccine products. Its products are exported to countries worldwide through direct distribution or various agencies such as UNICEF. Bio Farma has obtained the Best Export Performance from the Trade Ministry of Indonesia in the last three years up to 2012 as an evidence of its consistent exceptional performance. (T.E-004). For more information, please visit www.biofarma.co.id .
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