Monday, Medicago, Inc. celebrated the opening of its U.S.-based, state-of-the-art vaccine facility in Research Triangle Park in a ribbon-cutting ceremony, according to a company press release. Medicago USA officials were joined by guests Governor Bev Perdue, Secretary Keith Crisco, U.S. Senator Richard Burr and Congressman David Price at the event, which included a tour. According to the release, the 97,000-square-foot, Virus-Like Particle (VLP), plant-based vaccine facility includes a fully-automated greenhouse and state-of-the-art extraction and purification unit. The Medicago USA operation is targeted to produce 10 million doses of pandemic influenza vaccine per month. In addition, it will have the production capacity of 40 million doses of seasonal Influenza vaccine or 120 million doses of pandemic influenza vaccine annually. Medicago previously signed a US$21M Technology Investment Agreement with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop the facility.
The facility uses of all things tobacco plants to grow the materials necessary to create the vaccines. However, local farmers don’t get your hopes up, as if you read above, the facility includes their own 2.2 acres fully automated greenhouse. You can read more here and here.
If you are a fan of the book series The Hunger Games, you’d be happy to know that Monday a trailer was released for the new film due to be released next year. I’m mentioning this because the film was shot in North Carolina, in a town called Hildebran, which is near Charlotte. You can view the trailer here. You can read more about the shoot here.
On national news, new internal White House emails reveal a ‘Coming Storm’ Over Solyndra ‘And Other Inside DOE Deals’ from a scathing critique of Energy Secretary Steven Chu by a former Obama political advisor that was widely circulated at the highest levels of the administration. The issue is gaining attention as a possible insider deal that allows Solyndra, a solar cell manufacturing plant, to obtain government backed loans even as the company was clearly failing financially. Making matters worse, the White House Administration has refused to comply with a subpena to release all communication in the White House regarding the deals. Instead, the Administration is releasing chosen documents they believe are relevant, in such is a scathing email that the Energy department leadership needs to be sacked. You can read more about the emails here.
We’ll post more information from Monday night’s city council meeting when we receive it. In the meantime, have at the open lines!