Harwell VMIC: New vaccine centre sold to company

Construction on the VMIC started in 2020

A £200m government-funded vaccine manufacturing centre has been sold to a private pharmaceutical company.

The Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) in Harwell, Oxfordshire, has been sold to Catalent.

It said it will invest up to £120m to complete the centre, on which building started in 2020, and employ 400 people.

The VMIC was set up as a not-for-profit company with the aim of combining vaccine research and manufacturing in one place.

Opponents protested against the sale in Oxford in March, arguing the possibility was "beyond absurd".

Protesters said profits from the VMIC should have gone towards new vaccines

Mike Riley, president of Catalent Biotherapeutics, said the deal would "result in a facility that provides opportunities to transform innovation into real treatments for patients across the United Kingdom, Europe, and beyond".

The company hopes to start work at the centre later this year. It already employs 1,300 people working at facilities across the UK, including in Swindon, Wiltshire.

The BBC has seen a letter from science minister, George Freeman, which says his office is supportive of the sale.

He said the government is "actively considering what additional support we could further to strengthen the UK's global leadership in vaccine development".

A government spokesperson said: "The government hasn't sold the facility. VMIC Limited is a private company and has always been a private company.

"Catalent is a highly-regarded global organisation with an excellent track record, and its expansion in the UK will further strengthen our biotherapeutics industry.

"This investment by Catalent is necessary to keep the facility open into the long-term," they said.