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(Alliance News) - GlaxoSmithKline PLC announced on Monday that it is going to support the manufacturing of the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine at its UK facility at Barnard Castle.
GSK said it inked an agreement with Novavax and the UK Government Vaccines Taskforce to support manufacturing of up to 60 million doses of Novavax's Covid-19 vaccine candidate for use in the UK.
"GSK will provide 'fill and finish' manufacturing capacity at its Barnard Castle facility in the north east of England beginning as early as May 2021, with a rapid technology transfer between the two companies beginning immediately. The parties will negotiate a final agreement to include additional terms and conditions," GSK said.
"GSK is delighted to support Novavax and the UK Vaccines Taskforce with this manufacturing arrangement for the UK and our Barnard Castle facility is now undertaking the rapid preparation work required to manufacture up to 60 million doses of this vaccine. We have ensured that we can deliver these volumes without impacting supply of our other vital medicines and vaccines, and without disruption to the other Covid-19 collaborations GSK is engaged in globally," said GSK vaccines President Roger Connor.
GSK shares closed 0.9% higher in London at 1,309.20 pence each on Monday.
GSK, together with partners Vir Biotechnology Inc and Eli Lilly & Co, earlier on Monday announced positive top line data from phase two of its Blaze-4 trial which is studying investigational drug bamlanivimab on low-risk adult patients with mild to moderate Covid-19.
The Brentford, England-based pharmaceutical company said the study found that bamlanivimab co-administered with drug CIR-7831 demonstrated 70% "relative reduction in persistently high viral load at day seven compared to placebo", meeting the study's primary endpoint.
"This virologic evaluation of two antibodies with distinct resistance profiles is an encouraging advance in our fight against the pandemic," said Vir Chief Executive George Scangos.
No serious adverse events were seen with co-administration of bamlanivimab and VIR-7831, the company said.
The early data from the BLAZE-4 trial supports the hypothesis that by targeting a "highly conserved epitope", VIR-7831 may help deliver benefits to patients, said GSK Chief Scientific Officer Hal Barron.
An epitope is part of an antigen molecule to which an antibody attaches itself.
"We're continuing to work with regulators to bring VIR-7831 as a monotherapy and potentially co-administered with other monoclonal antibodies to patients in need," said Barron.
By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com
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