Veterinary vaccine innovation centre breaks ground at Pirbright to tackle global animal health threats

UK – Construction has officially begun on a landmark facility at The Pirbright Institute in Surrey that promises to transform the development of vaccines for neglected livestock and zoonotic diseases worldwide.

The Centre for Veterinary Vaccine Innovation and Manufacturing (CVIM), a state-of-the-art hub dedicated to bridging the gap between early-stage scientific discoveries and large-scale vaccine production, held its groundbreaking ceremony this week. 

The event was marked by Laura Dance, Chief Operating Officer of the UK Research and Innovation Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), who insisted on the need for collaborative action in addressing global animal and human health needs.

“The new hub will enable us to drive vaccine development and biomanufacturing in animal health, making advances in disease resilience and global biosecurity, where research holds immense potential to protect and improve lives and livelihoods for all,” Dance commented. 

Slated to be housed within The Pirbright Institute’s research campus, the CVIM has the financial backing of BBSRC, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. 

Its mission is to accelerate vaccine innovation for diseases often overlooked by mainstream pharmaceutical companies, especially those affecting livestock in low- and middle-income countries.

Pirbright director Professor Bryan Charleston called the groundbreaking “a new era of collaboration and progress in animal health.”

He added: “By combining our expertise in virology and vaccine development with cutting-edge manufacturing techniques, CVIM will accelerate the delivery of vital solutions to safeguard livestock and livelihoods worldwide.”

Removing the red tape in vaccine development 

The facility will address a long-standing bottleneck in the global vaccine development pipeline. While early-stage research often yields promising ideas, few are taken forward due to a lack of infrastructure and commercial incentives for early manufacturing and feasibility work. 

According to The Pirbright Institute, many novel vaccine candidates stall because they are not sufficiently de-risked for large pharmaceutical companies to pursue.

The CVIM aims to close this critical gap by providing the expertise and infrastructure needed to advance these innovations through the development process. 

By offering scalable, cost-effective manufacturing capabilities and focusing on formulations suitable for mass deployment, the centre hopes to become a vital partner in translating laboratory breakthroughs into accessible vaccine products.

Dave Grant, managing director of Scitech, the company awarded the construction contract, stressed the importance of the facility. 

“We are honoured to have been awarded the contract to construct this state-of-the-art facility, which will play a crucial role in addressing neglected and emerging livestock diseases, including zoonotic diseases that pose significant public health risks.”

The centre is envisioned to contribute to efforts to boost agricultural productivity through better animal health, enhance the UK’s emergency response capabilities, and support international pandemic preparedness initiatives. 

By focusing on zoonotic diseases, those transmissible between animals and humans, CVIM is expected to play a role in averting future global health crises.

In the words of The Pirbright Institute, “Globally, there is a gap in the capacity to translate scientific discoveries into solutions for the most challenging, emerging, and urgent infectious diseases.” 

With CVIM now under construction, that gap may soon begin to close.

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