A unit of Indian drugmaker Wockhardt has partnered a subsidiary of Serum Institute of India (SII) to set up a vaccine facility in Wrexham, North Wales where both parties are ''nearly equally investing'' and will be having nearly equal profit sharing.
Wockhardt chairman Habil Khorakiwala told CNBC TV-18 that the facility in the UK will take ''a year-plus'' to operationalise and declined comment on reports that Serum is looking to buy a stake in Wockhardt.
''A range of vaccines from Serum, in addition to COVID-19 vaccines, will be manufactured via our UK fill and finish facility,'' Khorakiwala said in the exclusive interview.
Also Read: Wockhardt unit partners with SII subsidiary to set up vaccine manufacturing plant in UK
The collaboration between Wockhardt UK and Serum Life Sciences UK will help create employment and the facility will deliver 150 million doses of multiple vaccines, according to a statement.
''We are establishing ourselves as a principal manufacturer of fill and finish vaccines - not just during the pandemic – but subsequently in the endemic situation also, as far as COVID-19 is concerned,'' said Khorakiwala.
Wockhardt UK has manufactured COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with the UK government and AstraZeneca. Its tie-up with Serum comes as an addition to the earlier arrangement.
On March 21 - a day after the deal was announced - shares of Wockhardt rallied as much as 12 percent. At 1:03 pm, shares traded 11.98 percent higher at Rs 327.25 on the BSE.
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