SII may use Oxford Biomedica's plant to make malaria, flu vaccines

SII is building a future pandemic facility, which will have an annual capacity of 2 bn doses

Serum Institute of India (SII) may make “flu or malaria vaccines” at the Oxford Biomedica facility at Oxbox near Oxford, said SII CEO Adar Poonawalla.

SII had invested in Oxford Biomedica through its subsidiary Serum Life Sciences last year to help fund the development of the plant that was making Covid-19 vaccines then. Speaking with Business Standard, SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said there is a 10-year tie-up with Oxford Biomedica and a potential to manufacture other vaccines at that facility.

“Oxford Biomedica is a listed entity, and they were making Vaxzevria (the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine) at that point (when SII invested in it). We had a tie-up to block their capacity and now we can use it for various other products, including pandemic products,” Poonawalla said.

He said SII at the Oxbox plant can manufacture flu vaccines or malaria vaccines. “We have a 10-year horizon. It’s important to have that capacity available,” he said.

Serum had picked up a 3.9 per cent stake in Oxford Biomedica as part of the deal in September 2021. Oxford Biomedica, which spun off Oxford University in 1995, had plans to use the £50 million invested by SII to develop the fallow area at its Oxbox plant into manufacturing space. This is expected to come online in mid-2023.

The Oxbox plant makes the Vaxzevria vaccine. The new space is expected to include the capacity to produce viral-vector-based products, including vaccines. During the Covid pandemic, SII tied up with several partners for access to vaccine platforms, and also production.

Its partnership with AstraZeneca and Novavax took off well, with Covishield (the Indian name for Vaxzevria) selling billions of doses and Covovax (the Novavax vaccine) being shipped to the US. Some of its other tie-ups like Codagenix faced challenges. Poonawalla admitted that clinical trials for the Codagenix product took longer than expected.

In India, SII is building a future pandemic facility, which will have a capacity of two billion annual doses. This facility could be used by any nation that wishes to stockpile a vaccine. Built over 300,000 square feet, this would be a plug-and-play facility.

SII also has plans to launch its malaria vaccine next year; it is launching an HPV vaccine this year, which aims to prevent cervical cancer in women.

• SII plans to make malaria, flu vaccines at Oxford Biomedica’s UK plant
• SII had picked a 3.9% stake in Oxford Biomedica
• SII’s investment was to be used to expand capacity at the Oxbox plant