Let's look at what's required to dose 1 million patients a year if we make some assumptions. One is that the Flaskwork device is approved and can make one batch a week, we'll say 50 a year allowing for some maintenance. That would require 20,000 Flaskwork units, and of course 1 million disposable cassettes being made annually.
I believe once the Flaskwork device is approved for making the vaccine, mass production of the devices and cassettes will not be a problem. Given the shoe box size of the device and lower cleanliness requirement then stem lines, it would be possible to have Flaskwork's distributed in multiple locations throughout the globe.
I don't know that we'll need 1 million vaccine doses a year initially, but as anecdotal evidence builds of benefits in multiple cancers, the batches required annually could go into multiple millions. Corning may not be very happy about their decision to sell Flaskwork to NWBO who appears to be aligned with Saint-Gobain, but if demand is high enough, the cassettes might be made by multiple suppliers.
My point in discussing this is that with the acceptance of the Flaskwork device, sufficient product can be available whether it's run by a BP or NWBO manages it themselves. The key will be manufacturing sufficient numbers of the Flaskwork devices, and disposable cassettes. This is not something BP can do in mass production.
If I remember the Flaskwork story correctly, in every batch of vaccine made, roughly two hours of time is required by the personnel operating the devices. Far greater time is required if manufactured in a cleanroom on a cell line, the Flaskwork will clearly be far superior.
I certainly don't know, but suspect that it's possible that cassettes will be loaded at the site of the surgery, then shipped with proper preservation to the nearest available Flaskwork facility for processing. As I see it, this is a very different process than what BP does in most applications, they manufacture massive amounts of their products in limited production sites, and ship it all over the world. I believe that in many ways, keeping NWBO operating somewhat independently makes sense, even if it's a subsidiary of a BP that's partly, or wholly owned. It would be rather like the relationship Roche has with Genentech and other wholly owned subsidiaries.
Without the Flaskwork device it would become far more expensive and labor intensive as massive cleanrooms would have to be built and maintained. I believe they'll be pushing to qualify the Flaskwork device ASAP.
Gary
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