Sunflower Therapeutics, a public benefit corporation dedicated to improving global access to protein manufacturing, has announced that it has received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant of up to $2.36 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This grant comprises two phases, commencing with an initial funding of $300,000, with additional funds contingent on the achievement of certain milestones. The financial support will facilitate the development of an automated, continuous cell disruption platform aimed at revolutionizing the large-scale production, separation, and purification of virus-like particles (VLPs) for affordable human vaccines.

The new funding will enable Sunflower to enhance automated, continuous bioprocessing technologies, making the production of VLPs—a well-established vaccine platform—more efficient and cost-effective. Building on prior successes with the Daisy Petal™ Perfusion Bioreactor System, Sunflower is set to create a fully continuous cell disruption platform that simplifies VLP recovery, which is a significant cost driver in commercial VLP manufacturing.

""At Sunflower, our mission is to enable low-cost, next-generation vaccine manufacturing through continuous, automated bioprocessing,"" stated Laura Crowell, Director of R&D at Sunflower Therapeutics. ""This grant allows us to advance a groundbreaking unit operation for continuous cell disruption, an essential step toward efficient and cost-effective VLP manufacturing. We are proud to play an important role in strengthening the global vaccine ecosystem and ensuring critical technologies are accessible where they are needed most.”

The urgency to enhance VLP manufacturing is underscored by the need to mitigate vaccine shortages and reduce production costs. VLPs are recognized as highly effective vaccine platforms that elicit strong immune responses and have been utilized in approved vaccines for hepatitis B, malaria, and human papillomavirus (HPV). Most VLP vaccines are produced using yeast, but traditional fed-batch systems involve high costs, hindering global access to these vital biologics, particularly in the Global South. For instance, HPV vaccines such as Gardasil-9 have a mere 41% uptake among adolescent girls in Africa, where HPV prevalence is nearly twice that of other regions, primarily due to their prohibitive costs. By merging high space-time yields with streamlined recovery processes, Sunflower’s innovative approach holds promise for reducing costs, broadening access to life-saving vaccines, and facilitating decentralized manufacturing in compact facilities worldwide.

The research is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under award number R44AI191984. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

To learn more about Sunflower’s accessible approach to bioprocessing, please visit sunflowertx.com.

About Sunflower Therapeutics: Sunflower Therapeutics is pioneering a unique approach in biotechnology with a mission to transform bioeconomies globally by delivering accessible solutions for protein product development and commercial manufacturing. Utilizing core technologies that include an efficient host, data-driven process development methods, and continuous biomanufacturing equipment, the team is committed to democratizing bioprocessing."

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