On 30th January 2025, LARISSA II consortium partners visited Batavia Biosciences, the consortium partner responsible for producing LARISSA II clinical trial material, in Leiden, The Netherlands. As part of this visit, representatives from BunyaVax and Wageningen Bioveterinary Research had the opportunity to visit Batavia Biosciences’ new facility ”Horizon”, which is currently in its completion phase.

In line with their mission to stay recognized as a center of excellence to the Life Sciences industry, Batavia Biosciences is expanding their GMP production capacity, by building a new GMP facility for biopharmaceutical and clinical manufacturing. It will be equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories and production rooms with a total surface area of up to 12000 square meters. The multi-product facility is designed to support the late-stage clinical manufacturing and commercial manufacturing of vaccines, viral vector-based gene therapy and immune-oncology products. With the new capacity, the new facility is a "pandemic preparedness" facility, featuring high-tech laboratories, cleanrooms, and offices.

The facility is based on a modular design, with 6 production suites. On-site, state of the art fill/finish capabilities ensure on-time delivery of drug product. With a daily production capacity planned to reach an impressive 576,000 vials (depending on virus / vector type), the facility is expected to provide for several hundred million doses annually.

Paul de Ruiter Architects was responsible for the design and created, commissioned by Provast, an inspiring, sustainable, and at the same time flexible building where innovative collaboration can take place.

Paul Wichgers Schreur (LARISSA II consortium lead, WBVR) “We are pleased that Batavia Biosciences will produce the LARISSA II GMP Clinical Trial Material for the anticipated Phase 2a clinical trial planned for 2026 in Uganda and Kenya”. The GMP manufacturing of the LARISSA II Clinical Trial Material is expected to take place in the “Horizon” building later this year.

The LARISSA II project is co-founded by the European Union and CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic preparedness Innovations)