Catalent has announced the acquisition from the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) of a biologics development and manufacturing facility currently under construction near Oxford, UK.
The company plans to invest up to £120m ($160m) to complete the building of the facility and equip it with state-of-the-art capabilities for the development and manufacture of biologic therapies and vaccines, including mRNA, proteins and other advanced modalities.
The new facility is expected to employ more than 400 people and support public and private organisations seeking to develop and manufacture biotherapeutics.
“This acquisition allows Catalent to collaborate with the rich academic and biomedical science community centered 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 UK, 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 programs 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 programmes currently underway.”
“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. 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 Professor Robin Shattock, head of mucosal infection and immunity at Imperial College London, and Chair of the Board of Directors of VMIC.
