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Oxford Biomedica Signs Clinical & Commercial Supply Agreement with AstraZeneca, for manufacture of COVID-19 vaccine candidate
Oxford, UK – 28 May, 2020: Oxford Biomedica plc (LSE:OXB) (“Oxford Biomedica” or “the Group”), a leading gene and cell therapy group, announced today that it has signed a one year Clinical & Commercial Supply Agreement with AstraZeneca UK Ltd (“AstraZeneca”). The Agreement relates to the GMP manufacture of the adenovirus vector based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, AZD1222, which recently entered clinical trials at multiple sites in the UK. Oxford Biomedica is working alongside AstraZeneca and other manufacturing organisations to provide large scale manufacturing capacity for this vaccine candidate.
As part of the Clinical & Commercial Supply Agreement, AstraZeneca will have access to Oxford Biomedica’s new 7,800 m2 commercial manufacturing centre Oxbox, located in Oxford, UK. In April 2020 Oxford Biomedica announced that it had joined a consortium including the Jenner Institute in relation to the potential for large scale manufacture of AZD1222. On 30 April 2020 AstraZeneca and Oxford University subsequently announced an agreement to enable global development, manufacturing and distribution of the vaccine.
The initial agreement requires Oxford Biomedica to provide AstraZeneca with multiple batches of vaccine, the majority of which are expected to be produced throughout 2020. The production will be from one of the Group’s recently approved GMP suites in Oxbox. The Commercial Supply agreement may be extended further depending on the progression of the programme.
John Dawson, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Biomedica, said: “We are proud to be a part of the manufacturing consortium working with the Jenner Institute at University of Oxford, for the early manufacturing and scale up of this viral vector based candidate for COVID-19. Following the recent announcement of an agreement between the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, we are very pleased to be one of AstraZeneca’s global network of manufacturing partners, and look forward to them being the third company to have rapid access to our specialised manufacturing capacity for this vaccine candidate at Oxbox”.
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| Enquiries: | |
| Oxford Biomedica plc John Dawson, Chief Executive Officer Stuart Paynter, Chief Financial Officer Catherine Isted, Head of Corporate Development & IR | T: +44 (0)1865 783 000 T: +44 (0)1865 783 000 T: +44 (0)1865 954 161 / E: ir@oxb.com |
| Consilium Strategic Communications Mary-Jane Elliott/Matthew Neal | T: +44 (0)20 3709 5700 |
About Oxford Biomedica
Oxford Biomedica (LSE:OXB) is a leading, fully integrated, gene and cell therapy group focused on developing life changing treatments for serious diseases. Oxford Biomedica and its subsidiaries (the "Group") have built a sector leading lentiviral vector delivery platform (LentiVector®), which the Group leverages to develop in vivo and ex vivo products both in-house and with partners. The Group has created a valuable proprietary portfolio of gene and cell therapy product candidates in the areas of oncology, ophthalmology, CNS disorders, liver diseases and respiratory disease. The Group has also entered into a number of partnerships, including with Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb, Sanofi, Axovant Gene Therapies, Orchard Therapeutics, Santen, Boehringer Ingelheim, the UK Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium and Imperial Innovations, through which it has long-term economic interests in other potential gene and cell therapy products. Oxford Biomedica is based across several locations in Oxfordshire, UK and employs more than 550 people. Further information is available at www.oxb.com
About Oxbox
Oxbox is Oxford Biomedica’s new 7,800 m2 commercial manufacturing centre, located in Oxford, UK. Phase I, which will be operational in 2020, is 4,200 m2 of developed area consisting of six Good Manufacturing Practices (“GMP”) clean room suites - four for vector production and two for fill-finish, warehousing and cold chain facilities and support laboratories. The Company received MHRA approval for the first two suites in Oxbox earlier this month. Phase II will provide for flexible expansion for a further six GMP clean room suites. This world class facility is expected to more than double Oxford Biomedica’s manufacturing capacity, supporting further growth in revenues.
The person who arranged for the release of this announcement on behalf of Oxford Biomedica plc was John Dawson, Chief Executive Officer.