Swiss firm Lonza to help produce anti-Covid nasal spray in the US
Lonza is setting up an antibody production line in Switzerland where part of the Moderna vaccine will be produced.
Keystone / Olivier Maire
As part of its agreement with American company Altimmune, Lonza will allocate a dedicated manufacturing facility for AdCOVID nasal spray vaccine near Houston, Texas.
On Friday, Altimmune announced the specific role the Swiss company will play in the rollout of the AdCOVID nasal spray. Lonza was named as a manufacturing partner last November.
“By expanding our Lonza collaboration and commissioning our own dedicated manufacturing suite, we are building extra capacity and redundancy into our manufacturing to support potential late-stage clinical trials with AdCOVID and potential future commercial supply,” said Vyjayanthi Krishnan, vice president of product development at Altimmune.
AdCOVID has started phase 1 clinical trials and the results are expected in the second quarter of 2021. If successfully commercialised, AdCOVID could offer “simplicity of nasal administration, potential ease of deployment and storage, and the potential to block viral transmission”, according to Altimmune CEO Vipin Garg.
Lonza sees potential in the vaccine candidate that claims to provide immunity for a year or more with a single dose and does not need specialised freezer storage.
“Altimmune’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate could be a complete game-changer in the fight against Covid-19. Our reinforced commitment is to enable the team at Altimmune to scale-up production as needed and deliver vaccines at a global scale when ready,” said Alberto Santagostino, senior vice president for Lonza.
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