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U.S. Government Awards Fujifilm $265 MIllion Contract for COVID-19 Vaccine Manufacturing

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Fujifilm of Tokyo, Japan, has been awarded a $265 million U.S. federal contract to for the manufacturing of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced on July 27th.

On July 23rd, Fujifilm’s Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies (FDB) group and Novavax, Inc., both of which develop and manufacture viral vaccines and gene therapies, also announced an agreement to manufacture bulk drug substance for NVX-CoV2373, Novavax’ COVID-19 vaccine. FDB’s site located in Morrisville, North Carolina, has begun production of the first batch of NVX-CoV2373.

This arrangement falls under Novavax’ recent $1.6 billion award by the U.S. federal government as part of Operation Warp Speed (OWS), a U.S. government program designed for bringing a safe, effective vaccine for COVID-19 to the U.S. population.

The OWS funding is being used by Novavax to complete late-stage clinical development, including a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial; establish large-scale manufacturing; and to deliver 100 million doses of NVX CoV2373, beginning as early as late 2020.

Fujfilm Diosynth Biotechnologies’ facility in College Station, Texas, site will also support COVID-19 vaccine candidate manufacturing, as part of Operation Warp Speed.

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