HALIX B.V. signed an agreement with AstraZeneca AB for large-scale commercial drug substance manufacture of AZD1222, the adenovirus vector-based COVID-19 vaccine.

Under the agreement, HALIX will provide commercial manufacturing of drug substance at its state-of-the-art cGMP facility at the Leiden Bio Science Park in the Netherlands. To meet the increased demand, HALIX expands with two additional viral vector production lines.

With this agreement, HALIX continues its key role as one of the original partners in the University of Oxford’s consortium for the manufacture of AZD1222. The vaccine was co-invented by the University of Oxford and its spin-out company Vaccitech.

Alex Huybens, Chief Operations Officer, states, “Building on the solid foundations made with the University of Oxford, it’s our pleasure to expand our manufacturing support of AZD1222 with AstraZeneca. Through the consortium, the partners are bringing their collective expertise and manufacturing capabilities to support vaccine production and combat this evolving crisis.”

HALIX has an established technical and quality track record for the development and GMP manufacture of viral vectors used in immuno-oncology and to vaccinate against infectious diseases, such as HIV, ZIKA, Chikungunya and the Influenza. The 6,700 m2 BSL2 GMP facility, recently approved by the Dutch authorities and located on the Leiden Bio Science Park in the Netherlands, provides both clinical and commercial-scale manufacturing capabilities in fully independent, self-contained Grade B and C cleanrooms for virus products.