Pharma major Wockhardt on Tuesday said that the company is in discussions with a number of global COVID-19 vaccine developers to offer drug substance as well as fill and finish manufacturing facilities to them. According to the company, the UK government has reserved one fill and finish production line at Wockhardt UK for its exclusive use for 18 months in order to guarantee the supply of vaccines required to fight against coronavirus

Initially, AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine will be manufactured at the UK facility. The company will start manufacturing the vaccine shortly. The UK government wants 100 million doses to be manufactured in the next few months, which the company will manufacture and supply to them, Wockhardt said. "We are in discussions with a number of vaccine developers worldwide offering both drug substance, and fill and finish manufacturing, because most of the companies want drug substance as well as formulation product," Wockhardt Founder Chairman Habil Khorakiwala said during a virtual media conference.

In India, Wockhardt has a large manufacturing facility at Aurangabad which has a capacity of one billion doses. The facility can manufacture both drug substances as well as fill and finish products, he added. Fill and finish is the process of filling vials with vaccine and finishing the process of packaging the medicine for distribution.

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