LONDON: A manufacturer of a possible COVID-19 vaccine being developed by British scientists said on Friday it may know by the end of May if it can make a million doses a month with a view to building stocks for commercial supply when the vaccine is approved.
Cobra Biologics is one of the firms working to make a potential vaccine known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 being developed by scientists at the University of Oxford.
Chief Executive Peter Coleman said the firm is not responsible for proving the efficacy of the vaccine, with those trials being run by the Oxford team, and there was a lot of risk involved in the project.
But he said that if a 200-liter manufacturing run planned for the middle of May were successful, the company would be ready to produce 1 million doses a month.
“(That’s) more than enough for clinical trials, but also potentially a start to stock up for commercial supply,” Coleman told Reuters, adding that it could have capacity for up to two million doses in repeat batches.
“The speed at which we’re operating is much quicker than it ordinarily is. And to start building up batches for commercial supply before you’ve even got to phase one (clinical trials) is pretty unusual.”
British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca has joined the Oxford vaccine program to develop, produce and distribute the potential vaccine to help make it available as soon as possible if it succeeds in clinical trials.
Coleman said AstraZeneca’s involvement could help with the rapid scaling-up of the vaccine on a global stage, but said that Cobra Biologics and two other contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) with a similar capacity that were already involved would still play a pivotal role.
“The current consortium of CDMOs will be a fundamental part of the manufacturing of this vaccine. AstraZeneca has a lot of capability,” he said.
“But I think at this moment in time, given the intensity and speed that’s required, it makes common sense to stick with the CDMOs you’ve got at the moment and then at some point in the future, transition to something else.”
Coleman said that processes that might previously have taken years were being boiled down to five months, and that safety work already carried out on a Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) vaccine could help speed up the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“It’s not from a standing start. There’s been a lot of work, and the products have been modified in such a way that the safety work from the early clinical trials is equally applicable,” Coleman said.
Asked about comments by AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot that it will know whether the vaccine will be effective in June or July, Coleman said that his firm was focused on the manufacture of the vaccine rather than determining its efficacy.
“I trust the university with that July outcome,” he said. “And then if it’s positive, the race is on to produce as many batches as possible.”
Potential UK coronavirus vaccine producer eyes making a million doses a month
https://arab.news/cgkhm
Potential UK coronavirus vaccine producer eyes making a million doses a month
- Cobra Biologics is one of the firms working to make a potential vaccine known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19
- British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca has also joined the Oxford vaccine program
Indonesia backs Turkey’s bid to become ASEAN’s full dialogue partner
- One of ASEAN’s founding members, Indonesia is also the region’s biggest economy
- Indonesian, Turkish foreign and defense ministers met in Ankara on Friday
JAKARTA: Indonesia has pledged its support for Turkey’s bid to become a full dialogue partner of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, following the first joint meeting between their foreign and defense ministers.
The regional bloc currently has 11 dialogue partners, including India, Russia, and the US. The status, which grants recipients high-level access to the group’s annual summits, is seen as a way to spur cooperation across various areas, ranging from trade to maritime security.
Indonesia announced its endorsement for Turkey after Foreign Minister Sugiono and Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin met with their Turkish counterparts, Hakan Fidan and Yasar Guler, in Ankara on Friday.
“Indonesia welcomes Turkey’s objective to become ASEAN’s full dialogue partner, and we are ready to give our full support,” Sugiono said at a joint press conference, as quoted by Indonesian state news agency Antara.
The UK, in 2021, was the last country to be granted dialogue-partner status by the 11 members of ASEAN, making it the first country to gain the recognition since 1996.
Turkey first established ties with ASEAN in 1999 and signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation with ASEAN in 2010.
Ankara long sought to become an ASEAN dialogue partner, but so far it has only been granted sectoral dialogue partner status — in 2017 — which focuses cooperation in specific areas and limits exchanges to lower-level meetings.
Jakarta’s public endorsement for Turkey is a significant development, experts say.
“It could speed up the process for Turkey to become a full dialogue partner, almost akin to a guarantee that this new partner will benefit the region,” Dr. Dinna Prapto Raharja, an expert on international relations and founder of public policy think tank Synergy Policies, told Arab News on Saturday.
ASEAN is likely to benefit from Turkey’s active role in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
“As a partner country, and with well-managed relations, Turkey can be a source of information and bridge of partnership with other regions,” Raharja said.
“The most immediate benefit is the sharing of strategic information on everything under geopolitical consideration and approaches adopted by countries in other regions, like Eurasia, Africa or Europe, and also Turkey’s perspectives on these matters… This information is valuable, and (can) help us find the right way to safeguard Indonesia’s and ASEAN’s interests in the current geopolitical situation.”
Indonesia’s role as one of ASEAN’s founding members and its status as the region’s most populated nation and biggest economy makes its support for Turkey’s bid “very important,” said Teuku Rezasyah, international relations expert and lecturer at President University.
Turkey’s status upgrade with ASEAN would also be an opportunity for Indonesia to further its bilateral cooperation with Ankara across various sectors, particularly in defense and security, he told Arab News.
Last year, the two countries signed a number of defense deals, including an agreement to set up a jointly operated drone factory and the purchase of KAAN fighter jets from Turkey.
The deals could be realized “much sooner than expected,” once Turkey becomes ASEAN’s dialogue partner, Rezasyah said.
“I expect Turkey will soon become a dialogue partner, considering that the consultation and consensus mechanism among ASEAN’s 11 members is a mere formality,” he said.
