Oxford Biomedica signs new agreement to manufacture AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine

Jul 1 (Reuters) – Britain’s Oxford Biomedica said on Friday it had signed a new three-year deal to potentially make AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine beyond 2022, but volumes were not defined, in an indication of uncertainty. decrease in injection demand.

Cell and gene therapy company Oxford Biomedica said in April that it had manufactured more than 100 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine since their partnership began in September 2020. Commitments in the deal are due to end this year.

Under the expanded agreement, AstraZeneca will have access to Oxford Biomedica’s Oxbox manufacturing facility to produce its vaccine on an as-needed basis beyond 2022.

“While it is positive that AZ wanted a longer-term relationship with OXB and the uncertainty has now subsided, we had hoped for a larger deal,” the RBC analysts said in a note.

Oxford Biomedica expects to record about 30 million pounds ($36.4 million) in revenue from the original contract in the current year.

(1 dollar = 0.8241 pounds)

(Reporting by Amna Karimi in Bangalore; edited in Spanish by Benjamín Mejías Valencia)

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