AstraZeneca plans to leverage its global network to support production of an adenovirus vaccine vector (AAV) currently in Phase I trials against COVID-19. Based on an adenovirus vaccine vector (AAV) and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 entered clinical trials in Oxford, UK last week. Developed by the Jenner Institute and the Oxford Vaccine Group, at the University of Oxford, trial material has been produced by the Clinical BioManufacturing Facility (CBF) for the Nuffield Department of Medicine and speaking…

Catalent, the latest CDMO to support Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, will carry out aseptic vial filling and packaging from its site in Bloomington, Indiana. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) began working on its vaccine strategy to combat COVID-19 – caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) – in early January, identifying last month a lead candidate and two backups based on Janssen’s AdVac viral vector and PER.C6 cell line technology. As the programs move towards the clinic, J&J has been…

French drugmaker Pierre Fabre says contract manufacturing is not a priority as it looks to sell two facilities to CDMO Fareva. The two facilities Pierre Fabre is hoping to offload are an oncology injectable plant in Pau, and a monoclonal antibody production plant in Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, both in France. Both have been making products for others. Pierre Fabre focus is not on being a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), said spokesperson Valérie Roucoules and so the decision to sell the…