The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement via the Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
Oxford, UK – 1 September, 2020: Oxford Biomedica plc (LSE:Oxford Biomedica) (“Oxford Biomedica” or “the Group”), a leading gene and cell therapy group, announced today that it has signed an 18 month supply agreement under a three year Master Supply and Development Agreement (“the Agreement”) with AstraZeneca UK Ltd (“AstraZeneca”) for large-scale commercial manufacture of the adenovirus vector-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, AZD1222. The Parties may extend the supply period for AZD1222 by a further 18 months into 2022 and 2023 by mutual agreement.
Under the terms of the Agreement, AstraZeneca will pay Oxford Biomedica £15million upfront as a capacity reservation fee. Subject to satisfactory scale up of manufacturing capacity and continuation of the vaccine programme, Oxford Biomedica expects to receive additional revenue in excess of £35million plus certain materials costs for the manufacture of multiple large-scale batches of AZD1222 until the end of 2021.
As part of the Agreement, Oxford Biomedica will reserve capacity for AstraZeneca in up to three manufacturing suites in the Group’s new 7,800 m2 commercial manufacturing centre, Oxbox, for an initial 18 month period. This new GMP facility is suitable for manufacturing viral vectored vaccines and gene therapy vectors up to 1,000 litre scale. As part of Oxford Biomedica’s previously announced partnership with the UK’s Vaccine Manufacturing Innovation Centre (VMIC) two new manufacturing suites within Oxbox will become operational in the next two months, significantly earlier than originally planned by the Group.
While this Agreement means the Group has dedicated multiple new manufacturing suites to this critical project, importantly, Oxford Biomedica does not expect any impact to the Groups current partnerships or ability to secure and support additional new partnerships in the cell and gene therapy field.
This agreement builds on the supply agreement between the companies announced on 28th May, which related exclusively to manufacture of AZD1222 at 200L scale and associated process development.
John Dawson, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Biomedica, said: “We have been working hard with AstraZeneca and other partners to establish GMP manufacturing of AZD1222 at scale, and we are therefore very pleased to extend our current partnership to include large-scale manufacturing of the vaccine candidate, AZD1222. Our previously announced partnership with the UK’s Vaccine Manufacturing Innovation Centre (VMIC) has supported our ability to make additional facilities available for this supply agreement. We look forward to continuing to work with AstraZeneca to rapidly contribute to the global effort to support the large-scale manufacturing of AZD1222 to ensure that the vaccine candidate is available if and when it is approved by Regulatory Authorities.”
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Enquiries:
Oxford Biomedica plc
John Dawson, Chief Executive Officer, T: +44 (0)1865 783 000
Stuart Paynter, Chief Financial Officer, T: +44 (0)1865 783 000
Catherine Isted, Head of Corporate Development & IR, T: +44 (0)1865 954 161 / E: ir@oxb.com
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott / Matthew Neal, T: +44 (0)20 3709 5700
About Oxford Biomedica
Oxford Biomedica (LSE:Oxford Biomedica) is a leading, fully integrated, gene and cell therapy group focused on developing life changing treatments for serious diseases. Oxford Biomedica and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) have built a sector leading lentiviral vector delivery platform (LentiVector®), which the Group leverages to develop in vivo and ex vivo products both in-house and with partners. The Group has created a valuable proprietary portfolio of gene and cell therapy product candidates in the areas of oncology, ophthalmology, CNS disorders, liver diseases and respiratory disease. The Group has also entered into a number of partnerships, including with Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb, Sanofi, Axovant Gene Therapies, Orchard Therapeutics, Santen, Beam Therapeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, the UK Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium and Imperial Innovations, through which it has long-term economic interests in other potential gene and cell therapy products. Additionally the group has signed a 3 year master supply and development agreement with AstraZeneca for large-scale manufacturing of the adenoviral based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, AZD1222. Oxford Biomedica is based across several locations in Oxfordshire, UK and employs more than 550 people. Further information is available at www.oxb.com
About Oxbox
Oxbox is Oxford Biomedica’s new 7,800 m2 commercial manufacturing centre, located in Oxford, UK. Phase I, which became operational in 2020, is 4,200 m2 of developed area consisting of six Good Manufacturing Practice (“GMP”) clean room suites – four for vector production and two for fill-finish, warehousing and cold chain facilities and support laboratories. The Company received MHRA approval for the first two suites in Oxbox in May 2020. Phase II will provide for flexible expansion for a further six GMP clean room suites. This world class facility is expected to more than double Oxford Biomedica’s manufacturing capacity compared to 2019, supporting further growth in revenues.
The person who arranged for the release of this announcement on behalf of Oxford Biomedica plc was John Dawson, Chief Executive Officer.