Law firm Stephenson Harwood LLP has advised Oxford Biomedica plc (Oxford Biomedica), a gene and cell therapy company, on a Clinical and Commercial Supply Agreement with AstraZeneca UK Ltd (AstraZeneca).

The one year agreement relates to the manufacture of the adenovirus vector-based COVID-19 vaccine, AZD1222, which recently entered clinical trials at multiple sites in the UK. Oxford Biomedica is working alongside AstraZeneca and other organisations to provide large scale manufacturing capacity for this vaccine.

Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca will have access to Oxford Biomedica’s new commercial manufacturing centre, Oxbox, located in Oxford, UK. The initial agreement requires Oxford Biomedica to provide AstraZeneca with multiple batches of the vaccine, the majority of which are expected to be produced in 2020. The agreement may be extended further, depending on the programme’s progression.

The Stephenson Harwood team was led by partner Dan Holland, with support from senior associate Chloe Haywood.