AstraZeneca and Emergent BioSolutions have signed an $87 million deal to manufacture doses of the University of Oxford's adenovirus-based COVID-19 vaccine for U.S. supply.
AstraZeneca’s AZD1222 — a viral vector-based, weakened version of adenovirus containing the genetic material of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein — is one of five candidates being supported by Operation Warp Speed (OWS), the U.S. government’s program to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 medical countermeasures that aims to have substantial quantities of a safe and effective vaccine available for Americans by January 2021.
As part of the deal, Emergent said will reserve large-scale manufacturing capacity for the AstraZeneca vaccine through 2020 at its Baltimore Bayview facility, which can produce up to hundreds of millions of doses annually.
With this agreement, the CDMO will manufacture two of the five leading candidates being developed with U.S. government funding. In April, Johnson & Johnson announced a $135M deal with Emergent to use its manufacturing facilities to potentially make more than 1 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine the drugmaker is testing.
Read the press release