Progress at Harwell's Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre slows after purchaser profit warning

Catalent, the USA based pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing business, which bought the UK’s Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) in April, promising to invest up to $160 million (£120 million) to complete the building of the facility and equip it with state-of-the-art capabilities has rowed back on its promises, according to a report in today's Times.

Calatent has seen it share price plunge recently and has paused work to complete the facility, based at Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire.

Many were angry at the government's sale when it was announced.

Leader of Oxford Council, Susan Brown, said: “The news that the government have sold off the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre is extremely sad and shortsighted.

“This could have remained a national treasure to be cherished rather than being sold to the highest bidder.

“This sale of national iconic organisations such as the vaccine Centre and Channel 4, is nothing but asset stripping.”

VMIC was set up as a not for profit organisation in 2018 to provide the country’s first bespoke strategic vaccine development and manufacturing capability.

The rapidly-accelerated programme for the 7,000 m2 facility, was an unprecedented collaborative effort between The Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre, Harwell Campus, Vale of the White Horse District Council, UK Research and Innovation, and St Albans-based Glencar, the main contractor, has accelerated the construction of this complex build in order to bring the facility on line early so that it can provide an emergency response capability for the UK.

It was initially funded through a £67 million government grant, and secured a further £131 million from the government in May 2020 and a further £47.6 million in March last year to support the expansion and acceleration of the programme.

In September last year the Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the site. As the time he said: “Brilliant scientists in Oxfordshire and around the UK are driving global efforts to develop a safe vaccine that works to defeat coronavirus. If one proves successful, we need to be ready to distribute it to the British people as soon as possible.

“That is why construction of the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre at Harwell, backed by £158 million from the Government, is fully underway in Oxfordshire. When open, VMIC will be able to manufacture enough vaccine doses for the whole UK population in as little as six months, which would transform how we beat this virus and prepare for future pandemics.”

At the time of the sale to Catalent, Mike Riley, President of Catalent Biotherapeutics, said: “This acquisition allows Catalent to collaborate with the rich academic and biomedical science community centered around Oxford, with its world-class talent, and will result in a facility that provides opportunities to transform innovation into real treatments for patients across the United Kingdom, Europe, and beyond.

“Our priority is to complete construction as soon as possible to be able to commence customer programs in 2022. We will then integrate its capabilities within our existing network of biologics facilities across Europe to offer a flexible range of manufacturing, technology, and development solutions for the pipeline of thousands of development programs currently underway.”

Catalent has a long-standing presence in the UK, where its workforce already exceeds 1,300 people at its four facilities focused on development and manufacturing of oral dose forms, located in Nottingham, Swindon, Haverhill, and Dartford, in addition to a clinical trial supply site in Bathgate, Scotland. The Catalent Biotherapeutics network also includes sites in Italy, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and the United States.