Emergent BioSolutions, a Gaithersburg, Maryland-based specialty biopharmaceutical company and contract manufacturer, has been issued a $628-million task order under an existing contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), to deploy its CDMO capacities and capabilities to support the US government’s efforts to accelerate delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.

This task order, valued at approximately $628 million, is being issued under the company’s 2012 contract with BARDA that established Emergent’s Baltimore Bayview facility in Maryland as a Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing (CIADM) for pandemic preparedness, and expands the partnership to include investments in Emergent’s Baltimore Camden, and Rockville facilities in Maryland, creating a US-based manufacturing supply chain for pharmaceutical and biotechnology innovators of COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

Under the task order, Emergent will provide CDMO services and commit manufacturing capacity, valued at approximately $542.7 million, for production of COVID-19 vaccine candidates through 2021. This award secures, on behalf of COVID-19 vaccine innovators that are supported by the US government, capacity for drug-substance manufacturing at the company’s Baltimore Bayview facility and for drug-product manufacturing at the Baltimore Camden and Rockville facilities. The task order also includes an investment of approximately $85.5 million for the expansion of Emergent’s viral and non-viral CDMO drug-product fill–finish capacity at the company’s Baltimore Camden and Rockville facilities.

Emergent’s Baltimore Bayview CIADM facility was established through a public-private partnership with the HHS in 2012 and was designed for manufacturing of large quantities of vaccines and treatments during public health emergencies. The Baltimore Bayview facility has the capacity to produce tens to hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine on an annual basis, based upon the platform technology being used. The task order extends the CIADM collaboration to include viral and non-viral drug-product fill-finish capabilities at Emergent’s Rockville and Baltimore Camden facilities. Activities under this task order are in addition to the company’s previously announced collaborations for COVID-19 vaccine candidates with the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, and Vaxart, a company developing oral recombinant vaccines, which are currently underway.

Source: Emergent BioSolutions