Spanish group Insud Pharma signs agreement with AstraZeneca to manufacture COVID-19 vaccine candidate

Europe, 20 January 2021

  • The plant in Spain's Castilla-La Mancha region will undertake vial filling and packaging for AZD1222
  • The company also provides drug substance manufacturing for AZD1222 through their site in Argentina
  • Insud Pharma is at the forefront of Spanish companies in investment in R&D

The Spanish pharmaceutical group Insud Pharma will provide vial filling and packaging of AZD1222, the adenovirus vector COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford and licensed by AstraZeneca. Manufacturing will take place in the plant operated by the group's industrial unit, Chemo. AZD1222 is currently in clinical trials and approved for emergency supply in UK and other countries.

With a track record spanning over 40 years, Insud Pharma is dedicated to research and development for medicines and APIs, with a total of six plants in Spain and a team of over 2,000 people.

Universal Farma, a next-generation injectables plant inaugurated in 2017, has been selected to undertake the vial filling process and packaging for the vaccine. The plant currently has a team of professionals specialising in sterile injectables.

Insud Pharma is one of the pharmaceutical groups with the highest investment in R&D in our country, so much so that it received recognition as an Excellent company by the Ministry of Industry.

In the words of Rick R. Suárez, President of AstraZeneca Spain, "Since the beginning of the pandemic, AstraZeneca has been working tirelessly to fight the virus, one example of this is the development of our potential vaccine against COVID-19. The fact that part of the vaccine manufacturing process is now established in our country as well as other countries across Europe, makes us even prouder because together we can contribute to eradicating the virus and boosting the economy of the world and Spain, one of our key markets".

Lucas Sigman, CEO of Insud Pharma, said “To have been chosen to work on such a crucial project, both on drug substance in Latin America and drug product here in Spain, clearly evidences our group’s reliability as a top-level partner. We are deeply proud to be contributing to the battle against COVID-19 and committed to ensuring the vaccine is accessible.

We are very happy to be able to manufacture the vaccine. We are proud to be able to contribute in such a decisive way to the solution of what has been one of the greatest problems in the health of our society. We are very satisfied that the vaccine can be manufactured in Spain with the support from institutions in a country with such a strong pharmaceutical industry”.

Vaccine manufacturer for Latin America
In August this year, the President of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, announced that Insud Pharma's biotech company mAbxience had signed an agreement with AstraZeneca for drug substance production of the vaccine at its newly-inaugurated plant in Argentina.

Insud Pharma, formerly Grupo Chemo, is a prestigious Spanish company which is widely respected in the pharmaceutical and health sector and has a track record spanning over 40 years. Early this year, the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism awarded the Spanish group an “Excellent” rating in the Profarma Programme, as recognition of its business activity and commitment to development and innovation.
With almost 6,000 employees in 40 countries, Insud Pharma’s contribution to global public health is enormous, thanks to the medicines and APIs developed and manufactured at its three highly synergic business units: industrial (Chemo), brand (Exeltis) and biotechnology (mAbxience).

IMPRIMIR COMPARTIR

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