FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies expands its partnership with Novavax to manufacture COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate at its Billingham site
BILLINGHAM, UK, August 17,2020 — FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, a world leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for biologics, viral vaccines and gene therapies, announce today that its site in Billingham, UK will manufacture antigen component of NVX-CoV2373, Novavax’ COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Billingham plans to begin production of the first batch at beginning of Q1, 2021.
Novavax has signed on August 14 a Heads of Terms (Term Sheet) with the Government of the United Kingdom (UK) for the purchase of 60 million doses of NVX-CoV2373 and a Phase 3 clinical trial to assess the efficacy of the vaccine in the UK population. The Phase 1 data of the Phase ½ clinical trial has already demonstrated to be generally well-tolerated and to elicit robust antibody responses numerically superior to that seen in human convalescent sera.
FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies expands its collaboration with Novavax to its UK site, in addition to its sites in North Carolina and Texas in the U.S., to ensure stable manufacturing supply of Novavax’ COVID-19 vaccine candidate. FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Billingham site has the capacity to produce up to 180 million doses annually, which further boosts the global supply of NVX-CoV2373 for additional markets. Production at the Billingham site will begin in early 2021.
“To change the course of the pandemic, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies is excited to expand our partnership with Novavax to manufacture their COVID-19 vaccine candidate at our UK site,” said Paul Found, Chief Operating Officer, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, UK site. “We are honoured to support the UK government and Novavax with the shared goal of delivering a safe and effective vaccine to the British people.”
NVX-CoV2373 is a vaccine candidate engineered from the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. NVX-CoV2373 was created using Novavax’ recombinant nanoparticle technology to generate antigen derived from the coronavirus spike (S) protein and contains Novavax’ patented saponin-based Matrix-M™ adjuvant to enhance the immune response and stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies.
For more information, please visit www.fujifilmdiosynth.com
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