US-based Catalent said that its subsidiary Catalent Biologics has bagged a contract to provide vial filling and packaging capacity to AstraZeneca at its manufacturing facility in Anagni, Italy, and prepare for large-scale commercial supply of AZD1222, the adenovirus vector based COVID-19 vaccine candidate of the University of Oxford.

Catalent said that the agreement fast tracks the rapid scale-up of capacity over the coming months to help with the dedicated production of the AZD1222 COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

The company will prepare the Anagni facility to facilitate 24/7 manufacturing schedules and supply hundreds of millions of doses of the coronavirus vaccine candidate from August 2020, and potentially through to March 2022 if the product gets approval from regulatory agencies.

The recombinant adenovirus vaccine technology was created by the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, and currently, the COVID-19 vaccine candidate is in clinical trials.

Alessandro Maselli – President and Chief Operating Officer of Catalent said: “Catalent has significant experience in the tech transfer and rapid scale-up of vaccine programs to meet demand.

“Our manufacturing site in Anagni, Italy has served for many years as a primary launch facility for new medicines, and the plant’s skilled team will take great pride in preparing to manufacture this vaccine candidate for COVID-19 and ensuring that the product will be able to reach patients as quickly as possible if approved.”

  Alessandro Maselli, AstraZeneca, AZD1222, Catalent, Catalent Biologics, Coronavirus, coronavirus vaccine, COVID-19, Italy, University of Oxford