Catalent Acquires Facility in Oxfordshire to Expand Biologics Capabilities in the UK and Across Europe
Catalent, the global leader in enabling biopharma, cell, gene, and consumer health partners to optimize development, launch, and supply of better patient treatments across multiple modalities, today announced the acquisition from Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre UK Limited (VMIC Ltd.) of a biologics development and manufacturing facility currently under construction near Oxford, U.K.
Catalent plans to invest up to $160 million (£120 million) to complete the building of the facility and equip it with state-of-the-art capabilities for the development and manufacture of biologic therapies and vaccines, including mRNA, proteins, and other advanced modalities. It is expected that the new facility will employ more than 400 people and support public and private organizations seeking to develop and manufacture biotherapeutics.
“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,” commented Mike Riley, President of Catalent Biotherapeutics. “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.”
“This deal ensures the VMIC site, when completed, will stay true to the original purpose of strengthening the U.K.’s vaccine manufacturing capability by bringing innovation to the sector and getting more vaccines to the clinic,” said Professor Robin Shattock, Head of Mucosal Infection and Immunity at Imperial College London, and Chair of the Board of Directors of VMIC Ltd. “Catalent has the resources to ensure this facility can become operational and start contributing to the UK’s and Europe’s vaccines landscape at pace. I would like to recognize employees at VMIC for their passion and commitment during the pandemic and the success that their work brought to the U.K. In Catalent, we’ve found a new owner who shares the vision for what we wanted to achieve and has safeguarded the interests of the workforce.”
The new facility is located to the south of Oxford at the world-renowned Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, a leading site in the U.K. for science and technology research breakthroughs and home to more than 40 life science companies.
Catalent has a long-standing presence in the U.K., 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.
