PHARMA Vaccine manufacturing centre to be scaled up

摘要

The Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre(VMIC)has received funding from the UK Government to help it expand the UK's capacity to manufacture a Covid-19 vaccine.VMIC is the UK's first strategic vaccine development and advanced manufacturing facility and is currently under construction in Oxfordshire.It has been awarded ￡131m(US$i6om)by the UK Government;￡93m to expand the facility and ￡38m to create a"virtual VMIC".The virtual VMIC will allow the centre to work with partners to manufacture vaccines this year in a temporary facility as soon as a viable vaccine is developed.The centre now also expects to fast-track construction of the full facility and open in mid-2021,one year ahead of schedule.The funding will also allow to increase the manufacturing capacity to produce 70m doses,a 20-fold increase,in 4-6 months after opening.It is expected that most of the work at the centre will be through collaborative ventures with organisations ranging from SMEs to large NGOs such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations(CEPI).