The two viruses are completely different and are in fact, as viruses are classified, from different viral families . This is important to point out because Adenovirus based vectors have been shown to be pathogenic. Another advantage of AAV is that it is efficient in delivering its gene to both dividing and non-dividing cells. This capability is important because it allows the therapy to be used in vivo. Despite all of the apparent advantages of AAV, it has not been widely pursued due partly to its difficult manufacturing and purification process for large scale production.
Production typically uses an adenovirus to initiate viral replication.
Avigen, however, has developed a proprietary manufacturing process that eliminates the use of adenovirus in the manufacturing process and significantly increases yield. This may allow the company to produce AAV vectors cost effectively and in large quantities for clinical trials and commercial usage. Key components of our manufacturing process are now handled by robotic equipment. For a video demonstration of this process please click on robot video demo . The pCMV-MCS is a 4.5 kb cloning vector.