Technology Transfer Training

This training programme is the only one of its kind to be held on an international scale for participants from multiple countries and offers essential professional exposure and guidance on technical mastery which are crucial during process optimization, development, and transfer.

The training workshop consists of two immersive weeks of learning, with daily lectures alongside hands-on laboratory sessions. It offers essential professional exposure and guidance on technical mastery which are crucial during process optimization, development, and transfer. Participants learn about the importance and the actual implementation of technology transfer for vaccine development and manufacturing, to strengthen vaccine capabilities across the various regions. The training fee, flights and accommodation of the attendees are fully covered.

15 employees from DCVMN member companies are selected to participate in the training. Five member companies are first short listed with the selection criteria: upcoming small or medium size company, manufacturers/developers of COVID-19 vaccines &/or its new variants, no tech transfer experience & /or no exposure to International collaboration/partnership with MNCs and more. Then each company nominates 3 candidates, preferably one each from production, QC and QA as per the following selection criteria: Work experience of 2-3 years within the nominating company; experience in production (upstream, downstream & fill finish), in process QC/ assays and shopfloor QA; Very good ability to grasp technical nuances and terminology; Commitment of the employee to stay on with the company post training.

To assess the learning of the participants and the effectiveness of the programme a 3-step evaluation is done. A pre-training test is conducted to evaluate the understanding level of the participants the first day of the training(day 0), this is followed by a performance evaluation upon completion of the training program (day 10). Lastly, a day-90 monitoring of outcomes on job performance is collected and analyzed to see long-term benefits and implementation of the training.

Mastering technology transfers is crucial in bridging the time and expense gap in vaccine manufacturing. This knowledge transfer not only helps developing countries to manufacture vaccines successfully; it ensures that life-saving vaccines and biologics can be subsequently reproduced by them. This will lead to a sustainable supply of vaccines in the long run!

ROBERT MIDENCE
Project Manager, Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp., Taipei

I have gained deep insights of what an effective tech-transfer entails through the HL-DCVMN Tech-Transfer Training Programme. I found the hands-on training, lab based equipment demonstration, interactive group discussion sessions, and problem based case study useful.

SONIKA DEVI
Assistant Manager, Vaccine Research, Panacea Biotec Ltd., India

The programme was incredibly enlightening and provided me with a wealth of knowledge and practical skills in technology transfer, intellectual property, and scientific innovations, that I can immediately apply to my work.

MARINA VERGNE
Head of Upstream Drug Substance Manufacturing, Bio-Manguinhos/Fiocruz, Brazil

It was a great learning experience and applicable knowledge that I can implement in our system for improvement of technology transfer management. The training course was designed very well and beneficial. It was a good platform to interact with the expert trainers, mentors and other participant DCVMN members. Thank you to HL-DCVMN for this opportunity.

APINYA KOKKAMYAN
QC Pharmacist, BioNet-Asia, Thailand

My biggest takeaway from the Hilleman-DCVMN Technology Transfer Training Program was being able to fully understand the entire technology transfer flow and all the requirements associated with the process. I’m very grateful to have participated in the course and for the care and attention that DCVMN and Hilleman Laboratories gave us during these two weeks.

KÁTIA SABINO TAKAYAMA
Strategic Partnership Analyst II, Butantan Institute, Brazil

The comprehensive overview of the entire process from upstream to downstream through to filling will definitely enable my company to speed up our technology transfer plans and launch products more quickly.

LINGYUN ZHOU
Vice President, QC & Method Development, Shanghai Zerun Biotechnology, China

1st Tech-Transfer Training – June 20th to 30th, 2022

The first DCVMN-Hilleman Tech Transfer Training took place from June 20th to 30th, 2022.
15 participants from 7 DCVMN companies were selected to attended:

• Incepta Vaccines, Bangladesh (2 participants)
• Panacea Biotec, India (3 participants)
• Polyvac, Vietnam (3 participants)
• Zydus Lifesciences, India (3 participants)
• Medigen Vaccine Biologics, Taipei (1 participant)
• Biological-E, India (2 participants)
• Vabiotech (1 participant)

Based on the pre-training and post-training evaluation surveys of the participants we can notice a significant change and enhanced knowledge on the subject.

In October 2022, the day-90 performance evaluation was executed and analyzed. The participants where asked 12 questions related to the learned materials and trainings and the majority of participants have demonstrated a positive implementation of the learned material, demonstrating the positive result of the trainings.

2nd Tech-Transfer Training – February 27th to March 10th 2023

Following the success of the first training, a second DCVMN-Hilleman Tech Transfer Training was organized from February 27th to March 10th 2023, with 15 participants, from 9 member companies:

• Indian Immunologicals, India
• Walvax, China
• Bionet, Thailand
• Sinergium, Argentina
• GPO, Thailand
• Vabiotech, Vietnam
• Instituto Butantan, Brazil
• BioFioCruz, Brazil
• Institute Pasteur Dakar, Senegal

The programme covered:

• Principles of technology transfer, as well as regulatory expectations and pitfalls during execution;
• Typical unit operations of fermentation, downstream processing, formulation & drug product development; and how to ensure successful transfer of the process to partners;
• Biophysical and biochemical-based assays and successful strategies of analytical transfer;
• Applying principles of technology transfer to real-life case study;
• Novel manufacturing concepts as well as mRNA-based vaccinology;
• Legal and IP considerations for tech transfer.