Cobra Biologics: Making the Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine.
Keele University Campus Based Firm Producing Oxford/AstraZeneca Shots.
In the north western corner of the midlands region the science park owned and managed by MICRA partner Keele University is playing a critical role in achieving the goal of producing one million or more shots of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.
Cobra Biologics is a north Staffordshire based biologics and pharmaceuticals firm. A lynchpin in the consortium of vaccine manufacturers and distributors that is working to produce the vaccines which will play a key role in bringing the COVID-19 pandemic under control in the UK and beyond. And it is the Science and Innovation Park on the Keele University campus – just outside Stoke on Trent – where their two production facilities are situated.
The company was identified as far back as April as being a critical node in the network necessary to produce the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine if the product passed clinical tests and received regulatory approval. Since Cobra Biologics was founded in the late 1990s its facilities on the Keele University Science and Innovation Park have grown and expanded – most recently through a £35million investment – which has increased the plant’s capabilities and capacity. Facilities which are now enabling the rapid production of vaccines which will help save countless lives and bring the COVID-19 pandemic to an end.
A Firm with Deep Roots at Keele.
Speaking in January 2021, just after the first midlands produced vaccines were administered to patients, Professor Mark Ormerod, Keele University Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, said: “It’s clearly a challenging time, but the rollout of the AstraZeneca Oxford Vaccine is a hugely significant and positive development. Cobra Biologics based on our Science & Innovation Park are key to the vaccine’s manufacture and rollout.”
Cobra Biologics were recently awarded the ‘Keele University Science and Innovation Park Company of the Year’ at the Breaking the Mould Awards 2020.
After being named as winner, Peter Coleman, Chief Executive of Cobra Biologics said: “I am incredibly proud of Cobra and everything we do. We’ve been doing what we do on the Keele campus for 30 years, and what we specialise in has been given a global profile this year.
“The recent clinical trials of the Covid-19 vaccine are an important moment, but I think everyone is happy with the positive news about all the vaccines. We’re in a situation where everyone just wants to get back to normal again, and we’re also working on an additional five promising follow-up vaccines that will hopefully enable us to do so.”
