The partnership between Stevanato Group and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) sees the former agree to supply 100 million Type 1 borosilicate glass vials, which can hold up to two billion doses of vaccine.
In addition to capacity, CEPI will be provided ‘fast track’ access to Stevanato’s glass vial forming lines.
The CEO of Stevanato, Franco Stevanato, stated that since the beginning of the pandemic outbreak, the company has been working on increasing global capacity to support the industry’s efforts to scale vaccines against the novel coronavirus.
For CEPI, the move allows it to secure services in parallel to the work it is carrying out to support the clinical development of COVID-19 vaccines. The organization plans to be part of the process that sees the world receive a commercially available vaccine in the next 12 to 18 months.
As part of this ambition, CEPI is playing a role in ensuring that AstraZeneca is able to produce two billion doses of its vaccine candidate by 2021.
The organization also provided record investment to Novavax, allowing the company to purchase additional capacity to produce its potential COVID-19 vaccine.
The move by CEPI echoes a similar push by the US government to invest in syringe and vial production to ensure any successfully developed vaccine has the materials ready to be delivered once approved.
