Drugmaker Wockhardt on February 10 said that it has been awarded a six-month extension of its agreement with the UK government to fill-finish COVID-19 vaccines.
The decision expands the original agreement from 18 to 24 months, until August 2022, and the manufacturing will continue to be undertaken at CP Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Wockhardt based in Wrexham, North Wales.
UK International Trade Secretary Liz Truss, on her visit to Mumbai as part of a drive to improve business links between the UK and India, announced the extension.
The UK government in August 2020 contracted a fill-and-finish production line at Wockhardt's Wrexham manufacturing site for its exclusive use for 18 months in order to guarantee the supply of vaccines. In the initial phase, the UK site will produce 100 million doses per annum of AstraZeneca-University of Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine.
“While the UK’s vaccination programme has been a national success story so far, we need to take steps to ensure we can manufacture vaccines into 2022 should we need to revaccinate or provide boosters to the population. By extending our contract with Wockhardt, we will ensure that the UK has uninterrupted fill-finish capacity, guaranteeing we have sufficient supplies to protect the British public in the long-term," said Kwasi Kwarteng, Business Secretary, UK.
“We are happy to extend our collaboration with the UK government to make vaccines available and the arrangement brings in a huge sense of purpose and pride, it upholds our ongoing global commitment to fight against an unprecedented pandemic,” said Habil Khorakiwala, Founder Chairman of Wockhardt Group.
He said the UK government is paying about $50 million for using the facility, which can be expanded to $100 million based on an expansion of production.