Novavax signs long-term lease on vaccine plant
Will relocate corporate hq to same campus in Gaithersburg
US vaccine manufacturer Novavax will lease 74,000ft2 of manufacturing, laboratory and office space in two facilities in Gaithersburg, MD to support its US government flu vaccine contract.
The main facility will become the primary commercial-scale plant for the production of vaccines after minor modifications have been completed by the middle of next year. The company's corporate headquarters offices will be relocated to the same campus. Novavax operates a pilot-scale vaccine production facility at its current headquarters in Rockville, MD, four miles from the new facilities.
Stanley Erck, president and chief executive of Novavax, said the new facility will provide twice the cGMP production capacity of the firm’s current plant.
‘We anticipate that it will enable us to supply our vaccines, most immediately our seasonal and pandemic VLP influenza vaccines, to meet our projected clinical- and commercial-supply requirements for the foreseeable future,’ he added.
‘In addition to cGMP facilities, these buildings will accommodate current and future clinical, r&d and administrative requirements.’
The laboratory, office and manufacturing space is owned and operated by Alexandria Real Estate Equities of Pasadena, CA.