Croda supports Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine
Avanti, a company we acquired in 2020, has a strong track record in supplying R&D quantities of lipid-based drug delivery technologies to pharmaceutical companies including those developing mRNA drugs. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, mRNA vaccine candidates were fast-tracked to Phase II clinical trials and Avanti became a key supplier. Due to increased demand, Avanti needed to ramp up its R&D capability and lipid production capacity quickly.
Our team rapidly re-designed the component production process, scaling up GMP-compliant production in only four months to support Phase III trials. This drew on our deep experience of manufacturing drug delivery systems and required redeploying R&D and engineering capabilities, as well as fast-tracking significant capital expenditure. Once, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine received regulatory approval, Croda/Avanti secured a contract to supply critical delivery system components.
“We were delighted to play a central role in the scale up of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, achieved in unprecedented time, to enable delivery at pace - an exciting moment in the development of lipid drug delivery systems,” says Steve Burgess, Chief Scientific Officer at Avanti Polar Lipids. “We combined Avanti’s expertise in enabling drug products to be delivered into the body with Croda’s experience in the complex processes required to produce large volumes for a worldwide rollout.”
“We were delighted to play a central role in the scale up of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, achieved in unprecedented time, to enable delivery at pace - an exciting moment in the development of lipid drug delivery systems,” says Steve Burgess, Chief Scientific Officer at Avanti Polar Lipids. “We combined Avanti’s expertise in enabling drug products to be delivered into the body with Croda’s experience in the complex processes required to produce large volumes for a worldwide rollout.”