Brazil will have a new vaccine production center focused on immunizing agents for neglected tropical diseases and other diseases. The project, coordinated by Ricardo Gazzinelli, a researcher at Fiocruz-Minas and professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), aims to clarify the scientific gap between laboratory research and the actual development of vaccines in the country.
The work for the construction of the new building, which will be in a space already occupied at the BH-TEC headquarters, linked to UFMG, in Belo Horizonte (MG), had an agreement signed with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation on December 8 .
The National Vaccine Center (CT Vacinas) will have two blocks with several laboratories, study rooms, offices, vivarium, clinical trials center and factory of good manufacturing practices, where the API for vaccines will be produced.
“In the history of Brazil we do not have a vaccine for human use that was initiated and developed completely in the country, so our proposal as a center is to set up a structure to make this production viable and create national sovereignty in the development of vaccines”, he says.
One of the projects in partnership with the new vaccine center is the study of the malaria vaccine, by the biomedical group and professor at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Irene Soares.
The researcher hopes that, with the new center, this and other vaccines can benefit from the growth in scale for the production of doses, the main obstacle faced by laboratories and public research institutions.
The total cost of the project will be around BRL 80 million, of which BRL 50 million was contributed by the MCTI and the rest by the government of the state of Minas Gerais. The total area of the new building will have 7,400 m2. The first stage of construction corresponds to block 1 and has already started at an estimated cost of R$ 40.8 million.
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