Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced Thursday it signed an agreement to provide its contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services to support AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the United States.
The agreement, valued at approximately $87 million, gives Emergent stateside manufacturing rights for the vaccine candidate, which has been supported by the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed – a program to accelerate the development, manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 medical countermeasures.
“With this agreement, we bring to our facilities two of the five leading candidates being developed with U.S. government funding,” said Robert G. Kramer Sr., president and chief executive officer of Emergent BioSolutions.
AstraZeneca’s vaccine candidate, AZD1222, was developed by Oxford University’s Jenner Institute working with the Oxford Vaccine Group. It is a viral vector-based, weakened version of adenovirus containing the genetic material of the spike protein for SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19.
Operation Warp Speed aims to have significant quantities of a safe and effective vaccine available for Americans by January 2021. Emergent will provide large-scale manufacturing capacity for AZD12222 through 2020 and will provide development services, technology transfer, analytical testing, drug substance process and performance qualification.
“As both a manufacturer of our own vaccines and a service provider, Emergent is uniquely equipped to take on the integral role of development and manufacturing partner to companies like AstraZeneca with lead vaccine candidates for COVID-19,” Syed Husain, senior vice president and CDMO business unit head at Emergent, said. “We have spent decades establishing a strong, integrated CDMO network that allows us to dependably and consistently produce life-saving medicines for our company and for others worldwide.”
Manufacturing will be based out of Emergent’s Baltimore Bayview facility, which has been designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing. Development services will be provided from Emergent’s Gaithersburg, Maryland, product development facility. Emergent notes the Bayview facility has the capability to produce anywhere from tens to hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine annually, depending upon the technology that is being used.