Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult Plans COVID-19 Vaccine Production Center

The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult is planning to create the Manufacturing Innovation Centre in Braintree in the United Kingdom. Supported by £100 million in government funding, the project will enable mass production of a COVID-19 vaccine. An existing pharmaceutical plant has been purchased from Benchmark Holdings at a cost of £16 million. The structure's GMP infrastructure for antigen production, formulation, process development, and scale manufacturing will be repurposed and enhanced. Completion is expected in December of 2021. The Manufacturing Innovation Centre will complement activities at the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre, which is currently being constructed on the Harwell Campus in Oxford. The UK government is also building a £38 million rapid deployment facility for vaccine production that will open in late summer of 2020.