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In this interview Jean-Simon Diallo, CEO and Scientific Founder, and JonDavid De Jong, VP Scientific Operations discuss the challenges antiviral defenses pose to the successful production of vaccines and advanced therapies and what Virica is going to tackle this problem. Check out the interview with BioInsights here! Read full interview:  Virica's BioInsights Interview

The impact of innate cellular antiviral defenses has emerged as a crucial area of investigation in viral vector manufacturing. Several recent publications have highlighted that the cell's natural response to the introduction of foreign genetic material can trigger defenses that hinder viral production efficiency. Although there have been any approaches to circumvent these barriers, the antiviral network's complexity is not an easy limitation to overcome. Learn more about the antiviral defenses present in current manufacturing  cell lines and strategies to mitigate their impact on viral vector production in this white paper, "The Impact of Antiviral Impact on Viral Vector Production."

Virica is pleased to announce it is part of the Canadian Pandemic Preparedness Hub (CP2H), a new research hub designed to protect Canadians against future pandemics and emerging threats. This multidisciplinary hub is part of an investment by the Government of Canada to grow a strong and competitive biomanufacturing and life sciences sector. “To continue to protect Canadians and to build a resilient biomanufacturing ecosystem, our government is taking every action possible to be equipped with the best tools. We’re proud to foster the research needed to produce cutting-edge discoveries and products in our very own labs that will help [...]

Dr. Jean-Simon Diallo, Virica’s Scientific Founder & CEO, attended and presented on the topic “Overcoming barriers in viral vector manufacturing: Small molecule targeting of antiviral defenses” at the recent Cell Culture Engineering conference. Key takeaways noted for Dr. Jean-Simon Diallo were:  What was surprising:  Several talks made mention of antiviral defenses as an impediment to manufacturing which was a first for me. I was surprised to hear that companies essentially reproduced very similar data to the Pfizer team (LINK) and are also showing differences between HEK293 clones with respect to how much induction of antiviral defenses there is.    Key Areas for advancement:   [...]

 Ottawa, Canada – April 21, 2023 –Virica Biotech Inc. (“Virica”), a leading supplier and developer of novel viral enhancers, announced today it is expanding its bioprocessing facilities and increasing its capacity to scale up the manufacturing of viral medicines and vaccines. The Government of Ontario is supporting the expansion at sites in Ottawa with a $790,000 grant from the Ontario Together Fund (“OTF”). The expansion project aims to (i) grow Virica’s bioprocessing capacity to keep pace with client demand for scaling up viral medicines, (ii) advance new vaccine process development lines, and (iii) support Ontario’s preparedness for future public health [...]

Ottawa, Canada- January 5th, 2023- Virica Biotech Inc. ("Virica"), a leading supplier and developer of viral enhancers for scaling of viral medicines, announced today that Beth Thompson-Webb will be joining the company as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), effective January 9, 2023. Based out of Boston, MA, Ms. Thompson-Webb will be leading Virica’s commercial efforts to drive global sales and new business growth. “We are pleased to welcome Ms. Thompson-Webb to Virica’s executive team,” said Dr. Jean-Simon Diallo, CEO and Co-Founder at Virica. “I look forward to having Beth’s commercial leadership, as we expand the reach of our products to improve the [...]

With the holidays upon us, it is time to reflect on what Virica Biotech has accomplished in 2022, thanks to the hard work of our employees and partners. Read the full letter here.

Virica Biotech Inc. (“Virica”), a leading developer of solutions for scaling of viral medicines, will be featured in a live webinar to be held on Monday, November 14, 2022, at 2:30pm EST. This webinar will focus on process intensification in the manufacturing of adeno associated virus (AAV) vectors. Tune into this free webinar to learn about: AAV biology and its use in cell and gene therapies State-of-the-art production of cell and gene therapies Current process intensification methods: cell line and vector engineering, media optimization, and bioreactor design to increase yields New strategies to properly attenuate anti-viral defences in the production [...]

Virica Biotech Awarded Best Abstract at ISCT 2022-San Francisco Our Data Scientist, Andrea Vervoot and VP of Scientific Operations, JonDavid De Jong represented Virica at International Society of Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT) 2022 in San Francisco. Andrea Vervoot's abstract presentation on the Bioprocess Modelling of Upstream Viral Vector Production Enhancement won the Best Elevator Pitch. JonDavid's abstract presentation on how our Viral Sensitizers (VSEs) aid in Overcoming Barriers in Viral Vector Manufacturing won Top Scoring Canadian Abstract.  View our Winning Abstracts Below: Best Elevator Pitch Abstract- Bioprocess Modelling of Upstream Viral Vector Production Enhancement Top Scoring Canadian Abstract- Overcoming [...]

For Immediate Release Virica Biotech Announces Collaboration with the Government of Canada to Make Gene Therapies More Accessible and Affordable for Canadians  Download full press release here. Ottawa, Canada – May 2, 2022 –Virica Biotech Inc. (“Virica”), a leading developer of solutions for scaling of viral medicines, today announced it has received $400,000 from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) through the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) program. This funding supports Virica’s collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada’s (NRC) Cell and Gene Therapy Challenge program to enhance the manufacturing of an affordable version of AAV-LPL, a gene therapy [...]