Polish biotechnology firm Mabion has signed a preliminary agreement with Novavax to begin the US company’s commercial-scale production trials and obtain its COVID-19 vaccine technology.
Shares of Mabion shot up 89% on the announcement on Wednesday as the deal – which is supported by a state fund – offered a boost to Poland’s biotechnology market.
Mabion’s founder, Maciej Wieczorek, said during a video conference that the deal was “the first step toward building a significant production capacity of the vaccine in Poland”, reports Bloomberg.
His company will receive 40 million zloty (almost €9 million) in loans and equity to double production capacity from Poland’s state development fund (PFR). The announcement came days after the government declared plans for a coronavirus vaccine factory in Poland.
“The biggest challenge when it comes to the availability of vaccinations is production capacity,” said Pawel Borys, head of PFR, at Wednesday’s announcement. “This investment is a direct response to these problems.”
According to Mabion CEO Dirk Kreder, the framework deal may “pave the way for commercial-scale production” if the technology transfer and verification, which are set to be completed by mid-2021, are successful.
Borys said that more funds would be available to support Mabion, which provides “one of the biggest chances for Poland to realistically start production of COVID-19 vaccines,” as well as other companies with similar plans, according to Euroreporter.
@Grupa_PFR sfinansuje inwestycje w produkcję w Polsce szczepionki na #COVID19 amerykańskiej firmy Novavax przez firmę biotechnologiczną Mabion👍🏻 Transfer technologii już w 2 kw. Polska dołączy do grona krajów, w których produkowana jest szczepionka przeciw #COVID19🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/I57xHExtq4
— Paweł Borys (@PawelBorys_) March 3, 2021
The announcement provided an unexpected boost to Poland’s emerging biotechnology industry, which has been growing in strength over the past year.
Following the news, Mabion became the fourth largest biotechnology firm on Poland’s stock exchange, with a market capitalisation of 0.81 billion zloty (€178 million), behind only Celon Pharma (2.15 billion zloty), Selvita CRO (1.05 billion zloty) and Ryvu Therapeutics (0.95 billion zloty).
Last year, Celon Pharma – which is also controlled by Wieczorek – saw its new anti-depressant drug pass clinical trials and another Polish firm, OncoArendi, struck a $380 million deal with Belgian Galapagos NV for a pulmonary fibrosis treatment, reports Bloomberg.
Novavax vaccines have been found to be 89% effective and only requires basic refrigeration, unlike Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. The company already has 1.5 billion doses contracted globally and is expected to receive approval from European regulators this quarter.
Poland’s planned vaccination schedule has faced disruption as a result of EU-wide delays in vaccine delivery. As of Thursday morning, the country had carried out 3.6 million vaccinations, mostly with the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.
Last week, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that international pharmaceutical companies had “failed to meet their obligations” in vaccine delivery. He announced plans for a vaccine factory in Poland as part of an EU-funded €58 billion National Recovery Plan.
On Monday, Polish President Andrzej Duda discussed buying vaccines from China with his counterpart in Beijing, Xi Jinping.
Main image credit: Sanofi Pasteur/Patrick Boulen (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
