Mumbai-based Wockhardt and Serum Life Sciences, a subsidiary of Serum Institute of India (SII), have entered into a partnership to make 150 million doses of SII vaccines in Wockhardt’s UK plant.
“This is a profit-sharing arrangement whereby we are setting up a new facility at Wrexham in North Wales. The investment in the facility is a joint venture between the two partners. It will be able to make 150 million doses of any SII Vaccine for which they deliver the drug substance to us,” Habil Khorakiwala, chairman, Wockhardt, told Business Standard. This will be a fill-and-finish facility for vaccines.
According to sources, it will take at least one and a half to two years before the new facility is ready. Serum Lifesciences UK, a subsidiary of SII, and a Wockhardt subsidiary have entered into a profit-sharing arrangement for this new facility.
Natasha Poonawalla, the chairperson, of Serum Life Sciences, added, “We are delighted to have formed a strategic partnership between Wockhardt and Serum Life Sciences. The collaboration will be instrumental in building long-term capacity in the UK. With this, we seek to further bolster supply resilience and support the global rollout of vaccines.” SII has supplied the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine to the UK already, and having a fill-and-finish facility in the UK would help the firm to have closer access to the UK and EU markets.
Serum Life Sciences looks after SII’s global expansion plans. Wockhardt has been looking at vaccine manufacturing partnerships. Apart from India, Wockhardt owns plants in the UK and Ireland. The UK plant makes the AstraZeneca vaccine for the UK government.
Murtaza Khorakiwala, managing director (MD) and global chief executive officer (global CEO) of Wockhardt, said, “This deal signifies the role that we will now play in the global supply of multiple vaccines, protecting citizens against infectious diseases.”
