AZ, BioNTech continue to build capacity to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines
Plus Sinovac-Butantan partner on Brazilian trials, and HealthVerity-FDA collaborate on real-world data
Manufacturing deals for COVID-19 vaccine candidates continued to gain momentum Thursday, with two of the most advanced companies entering deals that will help them expand capacity to make their products.
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) announced a manufacturing deal with AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NYSE:AZN) for AZD1222 that is valued at $87 million. The deal is separate from Emergent’s agreement to manufacture the vaccine candidate under the U.S.’s Operation Warp Speed initiative, according to an Emergent spokesperson. The new deal includes development and analytical services and reserves large-scale U.S. manufacturing capacity through 2020 for the COVID-19 adenoviral vector vaccine, which AZ licensed from the University of Oxford...