Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) : against COVID-19 ^Hub

The Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) is being established to promote, develop and accelerate the growth of the UK vaccine industry. This will be achieved through collaboration with the academic sector and SMEs, which are rich in new vaccine technologies, where VMIC provides expertise in process development and manufacturing in the form of expert staff and a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. VMIC will bridge the gap between research and expertise in development and manufacturing so that new vaccine products can enter clinical development, which is a value driver in terms of attracting funding for further development, partnering with the pharmaceutical industry for development to launch and contract manufacturing.

Alok Sharma "UK’s Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre based in Harwell.

A project that will help build our capacity to develop and mass produce vaccines here in the UK.
The government will be accelerating the building of this facility."

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VMIC is being established as a new, not for profit research company within the national scientific infrastructure providing strategic vaccine development and manufacturing capability. The company is supported by its three founding members: University of Oxford, Imperial College and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, each with extensive experience in development and clinical evaluation of novel vaccines. VMIC UK will receive in-kind industry funding from Janssen, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) and GE Healthcare.
VMIC UK will construct a vaccine manufacturing and innovation centre able to develop novel innovative manufacturing processes and carry out vaccine manufacturing at a variety of scales. The centre will also provide training and expertise to academic groups and help to produce a new generation of development and manufacturing scientists and operatives who can help to continue to build the UK industry. The centre will also serve as an emergency response capability for the UK government in order to produce vaccines against emerging infectious diseases and deliberate/accidental release of biological agents. 1. Project: Project: Vaccine ChAdOx1 nCov-19
vaccine candidate was developed by the University’s Jenner Institute who began trials in humans last week jointly with the University’s Oxford Vaccine Group.
The University of Oxford has today announced an agreement with the UK-based global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for the further development, large-scale manufacture and potential distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate currently being trialled by the University.
The partnership is to begin immediately with the final terms being agreed in the coming weeks. This will allow for rapid vaccination around the world if the COVID-19 vaccine candidate proves to be effective.

It is the first such partnership to be formed since the Government launched its dedicated Vaccines Taskforce to help find, test and deliver a new coronavirus vaccine just two weeks ago. It also comes alongside £20 million Government funding for Oxford University’s vaccine research and support for the institution’s clinical trials.
http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-04-30-landmark-partnership-announced-development-covid-19-vaccine

The University of Oxford’s ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 is an adenovirus vaccine vector developed by the university’s Jenner Institute. The university is testing the vaccine in a clinical trial planned to be conducted in the Thames Valley Region.
UK-based gene and cell therapy group Oxford Biomedica has become part of a consortium focussed on the development, scale-up and production of a Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine candidate. Led by Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, the consortium involves the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC), Cobra Biologics, Pall Life Sciences and Halix. Vaccine ChAdOx1 nCov-19, studied in a trial in the UK, will assess vaccine candidate’s safety and ability to induce an immune response against the novel coronavirus. Based on ChAdOx1 adenoviral vector technology developed at the Jenner Institute, the vaccine candidate was able to induce a strong immune response from one dose in preclinical and clinical trials to date.