Calgary Company Advances New COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Manufacturing Trial | The Canadian News

Calgary-based Providence Therapeutics says it has signed two contracts for its development mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 to be manufactured in Canada.

The company says it has signed a five-year, $ 90 million contract with Emergent Biosolutions to manufacture some of the drug, and also to fill and finish the vaccine, at its Winnipeg manufacturing facility.

Another $ 15 million contract was signed with Northern RNA of Calgary to manufacture some of the raw materials needed to produce the messenger RNA in the vaccine.

Providence reported this week that a phase 1 trial, involving 60 adults ages 18 to 64, showed that its mRNA vaccine is producing levels of immunity comparable to those produced by licensed mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Modern

A phase 2 clinical trial in 525 people is about to begin to further test the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.

Canada has yet to authorize a Canadian-made vaccine for COVID-19 and has relied primarily on the import of mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.

As of Tuesday, 26 million Canadians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and another 2.4 million people have received their first dose.

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Canada’s lackluster vaccine manufacturing capacity was a major issue in the COVID-19 vaccine procurement process, and the federal government is working to expand the industry.

Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines are the first mRNA products licensed for widespread use and have been instrumental in helping curb the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada and elsewhere.

The technology is being investigated for use in a number of other conditions, including cancer and influenza.

Moderna recently signed an agreement to build a manufacturing facility for its mRNA vaccine somewhere in Canada, but the location has yet to be chosen. Earlier this week, Moderna announced that it also signed a contract with National Resilience for the latter to begin producing the mRNA used in Moderna’s vaccine.

Last spring, the federal government invested nearly $ 200 million to help Resilience expand its manufacturing facility in Mississauga, Ontario, so it can make more vaccines, including mRNA vaccines.

Emergent BioSolutions is based in Maryland with several facilities in the US, Canada, and Europe. The company was heavily criticized earlier this year when a manufacturing error at a site in Baltimore, Maryland, led to the destruction of at least 60 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine.