Traditionally, cell-based vaccine production is performed using stainless steel bioreactors that require extensive cleaning procedures. Because disposable bioreactor systems have no need for cleaning and validation, they can significantly reduce start-up times for good manufacturing practice (GMP) manufacturing of cell-based vaccines (1). Although they are susceptible to a broad range of viruses, Vero cells were recently successfully used for industrial-scale influenza vaccine production (2,3,4). However, these adherent cells can proliferate only when provided with a suitable surface on which to…

          Traditional influenza vaccine production uses fertilized hen eggs. This method is labor-intensive and requires large facilities with limited scalability. A switch to cellculture–based vaccine production methods and use of disposable products would provide flexibility to substantially reduce the time to vaccine clinical trials and approval, effectively decreasing the time-to-market. The aim of this work was to establish a process to propagate influenza virus in Vero cell culture using animal-component–free conditions for cell growth and disposable…