(June 16, 2020) Cobra Biologics signs supply agreement with AstraZeneca for manufacture of COVID-19 vaccine candidate
Cobra Biologics (Cobra), part of the Cognate BioServices family, an international CDMO for biologics and pharmaceuticals,
today announced it has signed a supply agreement with AstraZeneca UK Ltd. ("AstraZeneca") to provide GMP manufacture of the adenovirus vector-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate AZD1222,
previously known as ChAdOx1 n-CoV-19. The production agreement is part of AstraZeneca's recently announced in-licensed programme with the University of Oxford
to ensure broad and equitable supply of the vaccine throughout the world, at no profit during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cobra, along with other consortium members, will be manufacturing the vaccine with first deliveries to begin in the UK in September 2020.
Cobra is supported by leading shareholder EW Healthcare Partners, as well as Medivate Partners, a Middle Eastern Sovereign Wealth Fund and Blackrock,
who continue supporting the business and its expansion activities.
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(June 16, 2020) AstraZeneca CEO Soriot says fast-tracked COVID-19 shot will protect for just one year
AstraZeneca, advancing a COVID-19 vaccine from the University of Oxford,
is among global frontrunners in the worldwide hunt for a viable vaccine.
Now, the drugmaker’s CEO says the vaccine is expected to provide protection for one year.
“We think that it will protect for about a year,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said on a Belgian radio station, according to reports.
After that protection runs out, it isn’t clear whether recipients would be instructed
to get another dose, or another vaccine, or rely on COVID-19 treatments if they're approved.
So far, Gilead's remdesivir is the only treatment with an emergency use authorization, but research is underway on many other options.
On Tuesday, researchers in the United Kingdom reported that the inexpensive steroid dexamethasone cut deaths by a third for patients on ventilation.
Numerous governments have already signed deals with the drugmaker to order doses,
including an agreement over the weekend from Italy, France, Germany and the Netherlands worth $843 million for 300 million doses.
Before that deal, AstraZeneca agreed to provide doses to the United Kingdom and inked a $1.2 billion agreement with the U.S. government for hundreds of millions of doses.
The company has also struck deals with CEPI and Gavi, the Vaccine alliance—plus the Serum Institute of India—to allow for access in low- and middle-income countries.
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