GSK to support manufacture of Novavax’ COVID-19 vaccine

GSK has reached an agreement in principle with Novavax and the UK Government Vaccines Taskforce to support manufacturing of up to 60 million doses of Novavax’ COVID-19 vaccine candidate (NVX-CoV2373) for use in the UK.

According to the agreement, GSK will provide ‘fill and finish’ manufacturing capacity at its Barnard Castle facility in the North East of England beginning as early as May 2021, with a rapid technology transfer between the two companies beginning immediately. The parties will negotiate a final agreement to include additional terms and conditions, the company said in its press release on Tuesday.

The UK Government has secured 60 million doses of the vaccine under an advance purchase agreement with Novavax. The protein antigen component of NVX-CoV2373 is also produced in the North East of England by Novavax’ manufacturing partner, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, at their site in Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees.

Fill and finish, to be provided by GSK, is the completion stage of vaccine manufacturing, preparing vials of the final vaccine and packaging them for distribution and use. The GSK site at Barnard Castle, which will deliver the vaccine doses under this collaboration, is a specialised facility in GSK’s global manufacturing network, which supports production of GSK pharmaceutical and vaccine products.

Roger Connor, President, GSK vaccines, said: “GSK is delighted to support Novavax and the UK Vaccines Taskforce with this manufacturing arrangement for the UK and our Barnard Castle facility is now undertaking the rapid preparation work required to manufacture up to 60m doses of this vaccine. We have ensured that we can deliver these volumes without impacting supply of our other vital medicines and vaccines, and without disruption to the other COVID-19 collaborations GSK is engaged in globally.”

Rick Crowley, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, Novavaxcommenting the agreement said that this partnership with GSK continues the expansion of global supply network, which will increase overall production capacity.