Oxford Biomedica to manufacture more doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine

Cell and gene therapy company Oxford Biomedica has updated its supply agreement with AstraZeneca to produce more doses of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine.

Oxford Biomedica signed an 18-month supply agreement in September 2020 with AstraZeneca for the large-scale commercial manufacture of the adenovirus vector-based Covid-19 vaccine, AZD1222.

AstraZeneca has now requested that Oxford Biomedica increase the number of batches it is manufacturing in the second half of 2021. Oxford Biomedica is raising revenue guidance for expected cumulative revenues from AstraZeneca by the end of 2021 from in excess of £50 million to in excess of £100 million.

As previously guided, Oxford Biomedica does not expect the commitment to AstraZeneca for vaccine production to have any impact on its current partnerships or ability to secure and support additional new partnerships in the cell and gene therapy field.

John Dawson, chief executive officer of Oxford Biomedica, said: "Everyone involved with production of the Covid-19 Vaccine can be truly proud of their achievement in manufacturing batches of vaccine from our Oxbox manufacturing facility. We are delighted to be a key supplier of the vaccine and the Group is proud to be part of this world-leading vaccination project that is saving many lives."