UMassBiologics 
UMassBiologics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School is the only publicly owned, non-profit FDA-licensed manufacturer of vaccines and other biologic products in the United States. The laboratory was established in 1894 by the Massachusetts Board of Health as the Massachusetts Biologics Laboratory to produce diphtheria antitoxin. Since that time, the focus at UMassBiologics has been to improve public health through applied research, development and production of biologic products.
In 1997, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts transferred UMassBiologics operations from the Department of Public Health to UMass Medical School to “maintain their public purpose, preserving their ability to compete in an increasingly competitive marketplace and to maximize their value to the Commonwealth.”
Since then, the University of Massachusetts has invested in facilities and programs at UMassBiologics that enhance its ability to research new treatments for disease. In addition to the original campus in Jamaica Plain, two new UMassBiologics facilities have been built on the Mattapan campus: the first, opened in 2005, has a state-of-the-art aseptic filling operation that fills vials of vaccine and other therapeutics manufactured on site. The building also houses a monoclonal antibody manufacturing operation, one of the largest public facilities of its kind in the country. Both aseptic filling and monoclonal antibody manufacturing capacity are in short supply in the United States. This facility has allowed UMassBiologics to continue to manufacture its own products, as well as offer this limited resource for both private and public needs.
The second facility on the Mattapan campus opened in 2010 as a research and development site for monoclonal antibodies and other therapeutic biologic products.
Over the years, UMassBiologics has introduced into general use vaccines to prevent pertussis, tetanus, diphtheria, and other diseases. The labs’ scientists also pioneered plasma products to protect infants and toddlers from serious infectious diseases. In recent years, during a serious national shortage of tetanus/diphtheria vaccine, Massachusetts was the only state in the country protected from the shortage; at that time UMBL increased production to alleviate the national shortage and still delivers thousands of doses of tetanus/diphtheria vaccine per month to helpm meet public health needs.
In 1996, when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) sought a biologic manufacturer to collaborate on products in its extramural research program, UMBL was awarded a five-year contract to do so and since then has produced monoclonal antibodies for a number of infectious diseases; in 1999, the Department of Defense sought a manufacturer of Vaccinia Immune Globulin for its smallpox vaccine program, but no commercial manufacturer was interested; UMBL alone responded to the task – just two examples of the vital public health role being played by UMassBiologics.
UMassBiologics has also identified a monoclonal antibody for rabies, which affects nearly 10 million people each year worldwide, resulting in some 40,000 to 70,000 deaths. Clinical trials have begun in India under the auspices of the Serum Institute of India.