AstraZeneca Boosts Coronavirus Vaccine Supply with New Deal

The company was spun off in 1995 from the University of Oxford, which developed the vaccine before licensing it to AstraZeneca in April.

It was among AstraZeneca's initial partners when they teamed up to produce the vaccine and focus on UK and European supply.

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Tuesday's deal could be expanded further by another 18 months into 2022 and 2023, Oxford Biomedica said, sending its share price up 2.1 percent to 862 pence.

"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," said Oxford Biomedica's Chief Executive John Dawson.

The company, however, did not specify how many doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine it expects to produce under the expanded deal, which is for "large-scale commercial manufacture", according to its statement.

(Writers: Pushkala Aripaka, Aakash Jagadeesh Babu | Editors: Patrick Graham, Susan Fenton)

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-astrazeneca-oxford-bi/update-2-astrazeneca-bolsters-covid-19-vaccine-supply-with-new-deal-idUSL4N2FY2E4