Jeffrey T. Blue
Executive Director, Vaccine Drug Product Development PR&D
Merck
Jeffrey T. Blue has been with Merck more than 26 years. Through his career, Jeff has led the Vaccine Drug Product Development and New Technologies Department. Jeff’s department is responsible for the development of both in‑line and pipeline programs and spans both early and late stage vaccine development. Jeff has supported live virus, oncolytic, subunit, conjugate, and mRNA vaccines. His department is responsible for technology transfer of the drug product formulation and process to the final commercial sites. In addition to pipeline support, his department is also responsible for supporting novel innovative technologies for drug product development including new drying technologies, novel adjuvants, and alternative delivery for vaccines and biologics (i.e., Patch technology, ID and oral delivery, pulsatile and controlled release formulations, Lyospheres etc.).
Through his leadership, the innovative technologies are being advanced to clinical development and recently gained manufacturing support for implementation into Merck’s vaccine pipeline. He has published multiple book chapters and various articles on vaccine drug product development and lyophilization. Over the course of his career within Merck, he has championed the development and successful launch of Varivax®, Zostavax®, and ProQuad® vaccines. He has also played an integral role in the development of the Ebola Zaire Vaccine that Merck has recently licensed (Ervebo®). Jeff has been a key leader on multiple cross-functional teams, engaged in key integration teams for vaccine strategy, is involved in multiple due diligence activities and continues to champion external collaborations to advance Merck’s vaccine pipeline.