Enabling large-scale production of a next-generation VLP polio vaccine for a post-eradication world

“Ideally, we would have a vaccine that could be available under emergency use within the next 4–5 years.”As we move toward a polio-free world, there is a pressing need for alternatives to inactivated and live poliovirus vaccines, which pose an ongoing biosecurity threat. Here, Charlotte Barker, Commissioning Editor, Vaccine Insights, talks with Nicola Stonehouse, Professor at the University of Leeds, about a long-running collaboration to develop a virus-like particle (VLP) polio vaccine that can be produced in traditional recombinant expression systems. Plus, an exciting new project is exploring the potential for cell-free production of VLPs.