For those unable to negotiate agreements, the next best approach was to hire the services of the few independent consultants with experience of BGB324 price large-scale influenza vaccine production, to assist the new manufacturers in setting up the production processes. However, these consultants rapidly found themselves thinly spread, facing different strategies for vaccine production and varying levels of capacity to absorb the technologies. WHO therefore decided to facilitate the creation of an influenza vaccine technology ‘hub’ – a relatively novel concept for vaccines. Where previous

technology transfer had been bilateral between a technology donor and single recipient, the hub model entails the establishment of a complete manufacturing process and enables multiple recipients to receive ‘turnkey’ technology transfer. A schematic comparison of the classic bilateral model and the hub model for technology transfer is provided in Table 2. A number of conditions needed to be met for the creation

of a successful influenza vaccine technology transfer hub [6]. The first was that the technology had to be free of intellectual property barriers, both at the hub site and in recipient countries. Secondly, the hub must have manufacturing Smad2 signaling and quality control experience and infrastructure in line with WHO requirements. In addition, there should be no competing interest of the hub facility in the commercial markets of the recipients. Lastly, financial support must be available to see the hub through the technology development phase, with the premise that sustainability would

be ensured at a later stage through financial contributions from existing and new technology recipients. Several entities, including private contract research organizations, public vaccine development centres, and public or private vaccine manufacturers, were envisaged as potential candidates to serve the role of a hub. An open call for proposals published on the WHO web site resulted in the selection in 2008 of the Netherlands and Vaccine Institute (NVI) as the technology hub for influenza vaccines. NVI was a Dutch governmental vaccine manufacturer – although not in the area of influenza – with a successful record in transferring technology (see article by Hendriks et al. [9]). Likewise, WHO facilitated the establishment in 2010 of a vaccine formulation centre of excellence at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland where the procedures for producing non-proprietary oil-in-water emulsions are being established for transfer to developing countries (see article by Collin and Dubois [10]). Establishing the centre in Switzerland was partly influenced by the fact that a relevant patent on submicron oil-in-water emulsions had been revoked in Europe.