(Reuters) - Catalent Inc said on Monday its Maryland facility would make the drug substance used in the COVID-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford, starting “late in the third quarter” this year.
The New Jersey-based company said the drug substance will be made at its commercial gene therapy manufacturing facility in Harmans.
Catalent would supply the so-called viral vector, which is a genetically modified harmless virus designed to trick the human body into producing certain parts of the coronavirus. These proteins, in turn, prompt the immune system to develop an arsenal for any real COVID-19 infections.