Client
VaxGen Inc.
Location
Incheon, South Korea and San Francisco, CA, U.S.

VaxGen Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Facilities

Fluor was selected by VaxGen Inc. to provide development services for two biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in Incheon, South Korea and San Francisco, California.

Both facilities were designed to manufacture VaxGen's AIDS vaccine candidate as well as a variety of human therapeutic proteins using mammalian cell fermentation.


Client's Challenge

VaxGen is focused on the commercial development of biologic products for the prevention and treatment of human infectious diseases, and was the only company with AIDS vaccine candidates in Phase III clinical trials at the time. The two trials involved nearly 8,000 volunteers in the United States, Canada, Netherlands, Puerto Rico and Thailand and were designed to determine if VaxGen's AIDSVAX investigational vaccine could prevent humans from becoming infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

As VaxGen was establishing building operations simultaneously in the United States and Asia, the company selected Fluor for this project based on its global reach and expertise in delivering biotech manufacturing facilities around the world.


Fluor's Solution

Fluor assisted VaxGen through value engineering and constructability, as well as process facility integration technology, to reduce the overall cost of the project.

At the first site, in Incheon, South Korea, Fluor provided conceptual and preliminary engineering services for a facility capable of manufacturing at least 200 million doses annually of VaxGen's investigational AIDS vaccine. The facility, built on a 23-acre site, was owned by Celltrion Inc., a joint venture between VaxGen and a group of South Korean investors. The facility included capacity for the manufacture of additional biopharmaceutical products, either from VaxGen or other companies.

At the second site, in San Francisco, Fluor performed engineering, procurement, construction management and validation services for the 13,000-square-foot pilot plant facility. The facility was capable of producing up to 10 million doses per year of the vaccine candidate.


Conclusion

Fluor designed and built two plants for VaxGen to produce its AIDS vaccine candidate. The San Francisco facility was completed in 2004. Following extensive facility commissioning, the Incheon complex was scheduled for commercial operation by 2006.