MEDFORD, Massachusetts– Sunflower Therapeutics, a public benefit corporation focused on expanding global access to protein manufacturing capacity, announced that it has completed the sale and installation of multiple Daisy Petal Perfusion Bioreactor Systems at the Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. (SIIPL), part of the Cyrus Poonawalla Group and the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. The installation represents the largest deployment of the Daisy Petal system to date and underscores increasing global adoption of perfusion fermentation in commercial vaccine production.
The Daisy Petal system is a single-use perfusion fermentation platform designed for intuitive installation, simplified operation and high productivity. Its hardware and control systems are optimized for in-vessel perfusion using a disposable stirred tank reactor equipped with a proprietary in-vessel cell retention device. This design enables significantly higher volumetric productivity compared to traditional fed-batch fermentation, offering space-time yield improvements estimated at five to ten times greater for the production of a wide range of proteins.
“Completing this installation at the Serum Institute of India is a pivotal moment for Sunflower and for global vaccine accessibility,” said Dr. Kerry R. Love, founder, CEO and president of Sunflower Therapeutics. “The Daisy Petal offers a path to clinical biomanufacturing in a system dramatically smaller than conventional bioreactors. Its patented technology and automated, user-friendly platform enable companies like SIIPL to unlock the advantages of perfusion fermentation, accelerating high-quality protein production and expanding access to life-saving vaccines worldwide.”
The installed systems operate alongside Sunflower’s GMP-compliant bioprocessing software suite, which includes HelianthOS, Nursery and Harvest. These tools support walkaway automation of fermentation, recipe development without coding and secure storage of process data generated by the Daisy Petal system. Together, they form an integrated ecosystem designed to streamline operations and support efficient, intuitive biomanufacturing workflows.
