AMRI to Provide Sterile Fill/Finish Mfg. for AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 Vax

Albany Molecular Research, Inc. (AMRI), a provider of advanced drug development and manufacturing services, has signed a supply agreement with AstraZeneca to support the manufacture of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate AZD1222, intended to protect against the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus.

On May 21, 2020, AstraZeneca had received more than $1 billion from the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for the development, production and delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing in cooperation with University of Oxford.

AMRI has been chosen to contribute to the supply of the vaccine candidate through sterile fill/finish of AZD1222 at AMRI’s drug product manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, NM. The COVID-19 vaccine program will take advantage of the facility’s cGMP manufacturing capacity to potentially produce millions of doses of AZD1222 annually.

Preparations for this program at the Albuquerque facility are underway, and both organizations are committed to delivering on unprecedented manufacturing timelines.

“AMRI is proud to partner with AstraZeneca in pursuit of a vaccine that could protect people against the coronavirus pandemic,” said John Ratliff, CEO, AMRI. “Our experience in drug product fill/finish will enable timely manufacturing to make the vaccine available as soon as possible to advance bringing life-changing medicines to market.”