Sale of UK vaccine manufacturing plant branded ‘ridiculously short-sighted’

US firm Catalent confirmed on Wednesday it had acquired the sit in Oxfordshire.

06 April 2022

The sell-off of the UK’s future vaccine manufacturing site has been branded “ridiculously short-sighted” after a US pharmaceutical firm announced it had bought the factory.

In a statement published on its website on Wednesday, Catalent said it had acquired the site in Oxfordshire but did not state how much it had paid.

The Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC), which is being built with the intention of helping to prepare the country for future pandemics, was reportedly put up for sale at the end of last year despite receiving more than £200 million in public investment.

The investment includes £90 million of cash the UK Government ploughed into the project to accelerate its construction during the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a visit to the site in September 2020, while the UK was on the cusp of a second wave of Covid-19 infections, to speak to those building the plant and scientists who were set to work in it.

Daisy Cooper MP, the Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman, said: “Selling this vital infrastructure is a ridiculously short-sighted move that risks leaving us less prepared for the next pandemic.

“Vaccines can take decades to develop and selling this facility shows this Conservative Government’s lack of long-term planning.

“This facility was purpose-built with more than £200 million worth of taxpayers’ money to produce vaccines.

“With this Government wasting eye-watering amounts of public money and writing off money spent fraudulently, the Tories must come clean on how much this facility has been sold for.

“The Prime Minister himself underlined how important this centre would be to protect against Covid and future pandemics. The public has a right to know why he has now changed his mind.”

Labour, as part of its living with Covid plan published in January, said it was against selling the plant.

Catalent, which is based in New Jersey, said it plans to invest up to £120 million to complete the building of the facility.

The investment will pay to equip it with “state-of-the-art capabilities for the development and manufacture of biologic therapies and vaccines, including mRNA, proteins, and other advanced modalities”, the firm said in a statement.

It is expected that the facility will employ more than 400 people.

Mike Riley, president of Catalent Biotherapeutics, said: “Our priority is to complete construction as soon as possible to be able to commence customer programmes in 2022.

“This deal ensures the VMIC site, when completed, will stay true to the original purpose of strengthening the UK’s vaccine manufacturing capability by bringing innovation to the sector and getting more vaccines to the clinic.”