Catalent, a service and technology provider for the pharmaceutical industry, has announced the acquisition of a biologics development and manufacturing facility from Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre UK (VMIC), currently under construction near Oxford, UK.
The company plans to invest up to $160m to complete the building of the facility, which will have capabilities for development and manufacture of biologic therapies and vaccines, including mRNA, proteins, and other advanced modalities. The facility will employ more than 400 people, supporting public and private organisations seeking to develop and manufacture biotherapeutics.
“This acquisition allows Catalent to collaborate with the rich academic and biomedical science community centred around Oxford, with its world-class talent, and will result in a facility that provides opportunities to transform innovation into real treatments for patients across the United Kingdom, Europe, and beyond,” said Mike Riley, President of Catalent Biotherapeutics.
“Our priority is to complete construction as soon as possible to be able to commence customer programmes in 2022. We will then integrate its capabilities within our existing network of biologics facilities across Europe to offer a flexible range of manufacturing, technology, and development solutions for the pipeline of thousands of development programs currently underway.”
“This deal ensures the VMIC site, when completed, will stay true to the original purpose of strengthening the UK’s vaccine manufacturing capability by bringing innovation to the sector and getting more vaccines to the clinic,” said Prof Robin Shattock, Head of Mucosal Infection and Immunity at Imperial College London, and Chair of the Board of Directors of VMIC.
“Catalent has the resources to ensure this facility can become operational and start contributing to the UK’s and Europe’s vaccines landscape at pace. I would like to recognise employees at VMIC for their passion and commitment during the pandemic and the success that their work brought to the UK. In Catalent, we’ve found a new owner who shares the vision for what we wanted to achieve and has safeguarded the interests of the workforce.”
The facility is located to the south of Oxford at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, a leading site in the UK for science and technology research breakthroughs and home to more than 40 life science companies.
