Biopharmaceutical Services Ireland Facility Expanded to Offer More Capacity and Improved Timelines for Challenge Studies

At our Ballina, Ireland facility, we now offer additional BSL-2 containment for clients working on new treatments in vaccine development.

Vaccine Development

Vaccines have gained tremendous attention in the global effort to combat pathogens. Regardless of the pathogen, studies must be conducted to assess the potency and efficacy of potential vaccines. Designing and developing vaccines requires the use of challenge studies, which involve vaccinating an animal and then challenging them with a target pathogen.

Due to the infectious nature of most pathogens there are critical regulations to address. Enormously important to Charles River is the humane and ethical care of animals. Thus, animal ethics and safety considerations are a priority during such studies.

Expansion of Ballina Facility

Designing an animal challenge study that translates to humans must take into consideration many factors, such as route of infection, infectious dose, permissive animal species, vaccine formulation, biomarkers, immune responses and disease end points. Currently, Charles River is conducting in vivo challenge studies with various BSL-2 pathogens. BPS Ireland has recently expanded its facility and service portfolio to offer BSL-2 in vivo challenge studies (bacterial and viral).

What does the BPS Ireland facility expansion at Ballina mean to you and your research programs? See below for a list of benefits:

• High biosecurity unit, ensuring maximum worker safety
• Self-contained unit with shower-in entry for increased containment
• 12 animal rooms with anteroom entry, increasing capacity and thus improving timelines; ideal for long-term vaccine/immunogenicity studies
• Each room has an anteroom for additional gowning during challenge studies
• Dedicated laboratory and animal procedure areas for clear and lean workflow, preventing possible sample contamination
• Autoclave for raw material entry, maintaining the unit as a biosecure environment
• Zoning for containment available via separate Air Handling Units (AHU); ideal for conducting challenge studies, or studies requiring a dedicated space allocated to their activities
• Fully compliant for animal housing regulations, with environmental enrichment for animals

For more information about the BPS Ireland facility expansion at Ballina, please contact us at askcharlesriver@crl.com.

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