The Jenner Institute, along with MilliporeSigma, is preparing for large-scale production of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. Patients are currently enrolled in clinical trials for the vaccine, which will require rapid development of the large-scale manufacturing process quickly and safely.

Leveraging MilliporeSigma's previous work allowed for plans to scale-up the manufacture of Jenner's Covid-19 vaccine candidate. Developing the manufacturing process itself would normally take six months to a year, but in two months, MilliporeSigma supported the Jenner team and their collaborators to evaluate the existing manufacturing platform for use with the new vaccine candidate, and improved critical process steps.

Over the last two years, MilliporeSigma's collaboration with The Jenner Institute has led to the development of a rapid, scalable platform following good manufacturing practices and using disposable technologies for the institute's adenovirus platform. Although the initial work was developed with a rabies vaccine candidate, the platform was then validated with different adenovirus constructs aimed at accelerating future vaccine development and manufacturing. The companies first partnered to develop more robust and scalable vaccine manufacturing processes in April 2018.

"We have brought the future of vaccine manufacturing to the present," said Udit Batra, CEO, MilliporeSigma. "This is an important step in treating Covid-19 and other diseases that impact global public health. This work marks a milestone in the vaccine manufacturing development journey, as clinical testing continues to advance."