Vaccines are a group of products that includes some of the oldest biological pharmaceutical entities. They are also an area where new techniques and manufacturing technologies are giving rise to significant growth. While eradication of some historic diseases has led to a lower need for prophylaxis, the resurgent threat of bioterrorism has given impetus to finding new and rapid methods for producing vaccines against a range of new and old threats, such as Anthrax.
Disease resistance of some strains of organisms, such as tuberculosis, difficulties in providing vaccines suitable for immunosuppressed patients, as well as the need to provide vaccines to greater numbers of people at lower cost, are all challenges facing manufacturers and governments alike.
The many types of “vaccines” are summarized with examples and a brief historical perspective, and then the current and potential future uses of conjugate vaccines are discussed. Information is presented on manufacturing techniques for some of these conjugate products.
