Under the new agreement, Oxford Biomedica will manufacture AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccines at its 84,000ft² manufacturing facility in Oxbox, beyond 2022, and generate average revenues of around £30m
Oxford Biomedica, AstraZeneca expand partnership. (Credit: Mika Baumeister on Unsplash)
Oxford Biomedica has entered into a new three-year Master Services and Development Agreement with the British drugmaker AstraZeneca for potential manufacturing of the latter’s Covid-19 vaccine.
The collaboration expands the initial Master Supply and Development Agreement between the two companies, signed in September 2020.
Pursuant to the initial deal, Oxford Biomedica has agreed to manufacture AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine until the end of 2021, with options to extend into 2022 and 2023.
The UK-based gene and cell therapy maker was eligible to receive a £15m upfront payment, more than £35m revenue, along with additional materials costs.
Under the current expanded partnership, Oxford Biomedica will manufacture AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccines at its 84,000ft2 manufacturing facility in Oxbox, beyond 2022.
The company aims to generate around £30m in average revenues from the original agreement, in the current financial year.
Oxford Biomedica chair and interim CEO Roch Doliveux said: “I am delighted that our close partnership with AstraZeneca has been extended. I am proud of the work of all our colleagues at Oxford Biomedica that has enabled us to deliver more than 100 million doses of the lifesaving Covid-19 vaccine.
“While contributing to the efforts to fight the pandemic, this has also demonstrated Oxford Biomedica’s ability to expand the scope of our innovative process development services and deliver high-performing manufacturing solutions beyond lentiviral vectors.
“We look forward to continuing to work closely with AstraZeneca and execute on our strategy to become a global leader across all viral vectors, enabling Cell and Gene Therapy companies to deliver their life-changing therapies to patients.”
In September last year, India-based Serum Institute of India (SII), through its Serum Life Sciences unit, announced a more than £50m equity investment in Oxford Biomedica.
Serum Life Sciences agreed to subscribe to 3,382,950 new ordinary shares of Oxford Biomedica at a price of £14.78 per share, which represents around 3.9% of its shares.