Fujifilm (TSE:4901) has reportedly spent big to double the size of its United Kingdom-based vaccine manufacturing facility.
The Financial Times reported that Fujifilm is spending about $532.8 million (£400 million) to expand its Teesside (north-east England) plant that is making the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, transforming it with factories specializing in antibody treatments and viral gene therapies.
According to the report, builders have already begun construction on one facility, while the land for the other remains undeveloped to this point. FT said the facilities are set to open in 2023 with up to 350 highly skilled jobs to be created in contract manufacturing.
Fujifilm manufactures the active ingredient for the vaccines developed by Novavax, FT said. Novavax’s vaccine was recently submitted to regulators, according to the report, but has not received approval in the UK, while the company said months ago that it intended to file for FDA emergency use authorization in the fourth quarter of 2021. The company has said that it intends to manufacture 100 million doses per month by the end of the third quarter, with that sum increasing to 150 million by the end of 2021.
A report from The New York Times this summer that Novavax struggled to convince the FDA that it can manufacture its vaccine candidate according to FDA standards. The company has partnered with vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. The two have jointly filed for emergency use authorization for its vaccine in India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Gaithersburg, Md.–based Novavax’s recombinant nanoparticle protein-based COVID-19 vaccine demonstrated 100% protection against moderate and severe disease, with 90.4% efficacy overall as it met the primary endpoint in the Prevent-19 pivotal Phase 3 trial, as reported in June. The European Commission agreed to purchase up to 200 million doses of Novavax’s vaccine in August.