BARDA, Emergent BioSolutions sign a USD 628 million deal to produce their potential COVID-19 vaccine

The U.S. government has invested a massive amount of money in helping develop a potential vaccine for the coronavirus and boost the production of COVID-19 drugs. Now, in order to speed up the manufacturing of its chosen potential vaccine candidate, the government will be enlisting a Maryland CDMO to look after production. Emergent BioSolutions has recently bagged a USD 628 million deal with the U.S. government to ramp up the manufacturing of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate and further make millions of doses available to the people by 2021.

This contract is a part of the Operation Warp Speed development initiative of the government with the objective of speeding up clinical trials and approval of mass production before the end of the year. As per the agreement, the U.S government will be investing USD 542.7 million to reserve bulk production capacity at the Baltimore Bayview facility of Emergent BioSolutions, which was constructed as part of the BARDA or Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority pandemic preparedness contract, signed in 2012. The remaining 85.5 million USD will be used in the expansion of the fill/finish capacities at the two Emergent plants in Camden, Baltimore, and Rockville, Maryland.

This massive order will help Emergent set aside all the required manufacturing space for mass production of the two or three potential vaccine candidates identified by the BARDA and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Emergent aims to help “Operation Warp Speed” reach its stated manufacturing goals of producing one hundred million doses within the year and up to three hundred million doses by 2021. This deal is the most recent of the massive contracts that BARDA has taken up in recent weeks regarding the COVID-19 drugs and potential vaccines.