Croda International Plc recently entered into an agreement with Pfizer Inc. to supply excipients that are poised to be used in the production of a promising coronavirus vaccine.
Croda operates the Atlas Point site near New Castle. The site produces chemicals used in everyday products. The company is based in the United Kingdom.
If Pfizer’s publicly indicated vaccine doses for 2021 were to be required, the Croda contract’s sales value in 2021 could be of the order of $100 million.
On Monday, Pfizer announced late-stage trials of its Covid-19 vaccine pointed toward 90 percent effectiveness in warding off the virus. The vaccine could become widely available next year, should trials continue to be successful.
Delivery of the Pfizer vaccine and others will be a massive and complex undertaking with dosages requiring equipment capable of keeping temperatures at 94 degrees below zero.
The contract with Pfizer runs for five years and awards Croda an initial supply contract for four-component excipients used in the production of the vaccine candidate for the first three years of the contract. Demand remains subject to the approval process for the vaccine.
Croda’s recently acquired subsidiary, Avanti Polar Lipids, Inc., specializes in the development and production of lipids to produce research and clinical trial quantities of excipients in order to stabilize formulations and enable injections for drugs and vaccines.
Croda’s health care business has a 20-year track record in developing technologies for drug delivery systems for the pharmaceutical industry and has been working with Avanti, prior to and since its acquisition by Croda, to refine the complex processes involved in achieving the volume of high-purity excipients required by its pharmaceutical customers. Croda had put a high priority in recent months when it came to the product.
Steve Foots, Croda CEO, stated: “I’m very proud of Croda’s involvement in the battle to fight the most significant pandemic that we have seen in a generation. The application of our innovative capabilities is testament to the strong progress we have made to create industry-leading drug delivery systems, focused on developing speciality excipients and adjuvants to improve the effectiveness and stability of complex drug actives and vaccines. It is another example of why our Purpose – Smart Science to Improve Lives – sits at the heart of our strategy and will continue to drive our priorities and ambitions in the years ahead.”
According to Croda, excipients are substances that serve as the vehicle or medium for a drug or other active substance to be delivered.
If Pfizer’s publicly indicated vaccine doses for 2021 were to be required, the sales value of Croda’s contract in 2021 could be of the order of $100 million.
