The approach is used to create protein-based vaccines, not the mRNA shots developed by firms including BioNTech and Moderna to protect against Covid-19.
Cepi, which described the chrysalis as “living bioreactors”, said this new approach could save critical time and allow more vaccines to be manufactured and distributed quickly in another pandemic situation.
“With new and re-emerging infectious diseases posing continual threats, the need for swift access to vaccines is critical to protecting vulnerable populations worldwide,” said Ingrid Kromann, the organisation’s acting executive director for manufacturing and supply chain.
The approach is based on precedent. Baculoviruses have long been used in vaccine development because they are harmless for people; the Novavax Covid shot (approved far later than Moderna of BioNTech due to scale up issues in the bioreactor) included a baculovirus modified to include the Sars-Cov-2 spike protein.
Prof Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said that creating a “living bioreactor” was a “real and perfectly respectable direction” to take.
“[It’s] not as exotic as the ‘moth’ thing makes it sound – any team looking for robust ways of faithfully making large protein batches for a vaccine strategy might compare tissue culture production in human, yeast, bacterial, insect cells,” he said.
Prof Edward Parker, the co-director of the Vaccine Centre and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, added: “The chrysalis-based system has several adaptations that aim to simplify and enhance current methods, so it will be interesting to see where this leads.”