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Vaccine maker Serum Institute of India (SII) will invest £50 million ($68 million) in OxfordBiomedica to help fund the development of a plant that manufactures Covid-19 shots, the British company said on Wednesday.
Serum — the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume — and Oxford Biomedica both produce AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine.
Serum Life Sciences, a unit of India-based SII, will pick up a 3.9 per cent stake in Oxford Biomedica as part of the deal.
Fund deployment
Oxford Biomedica, spun-off from Oxford University in 1995, said it would use the funds to develop the fallow area at its Oxbox plant into a manufacturing space expected to come online in mid-2023.
The Oxbox plant currently makes Covid-19 shots, and the new space is expected to include a capacity to produce viral vector-based products including vaccines, Biomedica said.
Shares of the British firm were up 5 per cent on the London StockExchange, as of 0745 GMT.
Serum’s investment comes four months after Oxford Biomedica doubled its sales estimates from the AstraZeneca shot to more than 100 million pounds by 2021-end.
A representative for SII did not immediately respond toReuters’ request for a comment.
For Serum, the deal is the second in as many weeks, following its planned purchase of a 15 per cent stake in Indian drugmaker Biocon’s biologics unit.
The Oxford-based company said on Wednesday it swung to aprofit after its half-yearly revenue more than doubled.
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