Texas A&M facility in College Station set to mass-produce potential COVID-19 vaccine
Texas is poised to play a key role in the country’s efforts to produce a COVID-19 vaccine after the Trump administration awarded Texas A&M with a $265 million contract to prepare to mass-produce a potential COVID-19 vaccine.
The Texas A&M University System Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing, which includes three facilities owned and operated by subcontractor Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, is set to mass-manufacture a vaccine candidate being developed by Maryland-based Novavax, according to a Texas A&M press release. It is one of several candidates that the federal government has identified as promising and that have been sent to clinical trials.
“Getting a vaccine remains a top priority,” President Trump said during a July 21 news conference. “We’re mass producing all of the top candidates so that the first approved vaccine will be available immediately.”
The federal funding will go toward expanding the facility in College Station and keeping it on reserve for when mass production of the vaccine could begin. Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies is set to start production of millions of vaccines in early 2021 if Novavax’s vaccine is successful.
“The Texas A&M System is ready to save lives and help protect the country,” said John Sharp, chancellor of The Texas A&M University System, in a statement. “This whole project is a triple win. It’s a win for the Texas A&M System. It’s a win for FDB. It’s a win for the nation.”
The federal government contracted Novavax on July 6 as part of its billion-dollar initiative Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s effort to deliver 300 million doses of a vaccine for COVID-19 by January 2021, according to the Department of Health and Human Services website. On July 6, the government awarded Novavax $1.6 billion to support clinical trials and manufacturing, according to the New York Times. If the trials succeed, Novavax expects to deliver 100 million doses for use in the United States by the first quarter of 2021.
Texas A&M’s Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing was developed after the H1N1 influenza pandemic with funding from the government to bolster the nation’s ability to respond to new infectious diseases, according to the center’s website.
