Wockhardt to supply millions of multiple Covid-19 vaccine doses to UK

Indian drugmaker Wockhardt Ltd will supply millions of doses of multiple Covid-19 vaccines to the UK, including the one being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, it said on Monday.

The company has reserved fill-and-finish capacity - the final manufacturing step of putting vaccines into vials or syringes and packaging them - as part of an agreement with the UK government, it said.

Shares in Wockhardt jumped 10 per cent after the news in a downcast Mumbai market.

The UK government has also reserved one fill-and-finish production line at a Wockhardt subsidiary in Wrexham, Wales for its exclusive use for the next 18 months to secure supply.

More than 150 vaccines are being developed and tested around the world to stop the pandemic, with 25 in human clinical trials, according to the World Health Organization.

Coronavirus cases globally have crossed 18 million, including more than 688,000 deaths.