By Kaitlyn Kanzler, Special Writer
CRANBURY — Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno visited VaxInnate in Cranbury on Wednesday as part of her statewide tour of life science firms in the state.
VaxInnate is a privately-held, New Jersey based biotechnology company that is developing vaccines for infectious diseases such as seasonal and pandemic flu and dengue fever.
”The Christie administration has made it a priority to improve New Jersey’s business climate to ensure industries like the life sciences and leading companies like VaxInnate increase their investment here and grow quality jobs for our state’s residents,” Lt. Gov. Guadagno said. “We are happy to have the opportunity to work with VaxInnate as it continues to grow and prospers in the Garden State.”
According to Wayne Pisano, president and CEO, VaxInnate is looking to expand its existing laboratories and offices and create more jobs for residents.
”I think this shows that New Jersey is on the cutting edge of pharmaceuticals,” Mayor David Cook said. “But it’s great to have VaxInnate as a company that’s in Cranbury and doing state-of-the-art protein work and pharmaceutical vaccines. I’m happy to be here today to see what they do.”
After speaking with VaxInnate’s executives, Lt. Gov. Guadagno and Mayor Cook were taken on a tour of the facilities, stopping in several labs where employees explained what they were working on.
”We were honored to have Lt. Gov. Guadagno here at our facility this morning,” said Dr. David Taylor, chief medical officer and physician for VaxInnate. “It’s wonderful to see her enthusiasm for keeping the biotech industry strong and vibrant here in the state of New Jersey.”
According to Dr. Taylor, the lieutenant governor and VaxInnate executives discussed the state’s programs to keep the company here in New Jersey and to describe to her its need for growth and how she could help them achieve it.
”I think we’ve opened up a great dialogue with her and her office,” Dr. Taylor said.
”The nation was looking to New Jersey’s life sciences sector for new vaccines and treatments for many common diseases, especially as the population ages,” Lt. Gov. Guadagno said in a press release about Wednesday’s visit.
”This is a really unique organization,” Mr. Pisano said. “Our technology really can be game-changing for vaccine production. We’re in clinical studies now for pandemic influenza and should have our first license available in the next four years, and we will have enough vaccine to not only protect the population of the United States, but for a large portion of the whole world.”
VaxInnate has created prototype seasonal and pandemic flu vaccines that have been highly successful with elderly subjects, officials said.
According to its website, the elderly suffer “disproportionately from seasonal flu and its complications and are less responsive to flu vaccines due to the aging of their immune systems.”
Lt. Gov. Guadagno also visited the Bio International Conference in Boston earlier this month to attract companies to relocate to New Jersey and hire the state’s residents.
According to its website, VaxInnate occupies 20,000 square feet of laboratory and office space in Cranbury.

