HALIX Part of Leading Innovator Consortium for 2024 MacRobert Award

Leiden (The Netherlands, 10.07.2024) – HALIX is proud to announce its role as a consortium partner in the groundbreaking initiative led by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, recently named a finalist for the prestigious 2024 MacRobert Award. This recognition celebrates the collaborative effort and engineering excellence that enabled the global scale-up and manufacturing of the ChAdOx1 COVID-19 vaccine.

The consortium, which included HALIX among other distinguished partners, achieved an unprecedented milestone by supplying over 3 billion doses of the ChAdOx1 COVID-19 vaccine in record time, saving over 6 million lives worldwide. Leveraging state-of-the-art cell culture technologies, streamlined workflows, and rigorous quality control processes, the team set new benchmarks in pharmaceutical manufacturing, process development, and technology transfer.

Dennis Verbart, Senior Director of Science and Technology at HALIX, stated: “Being part of this pioneering team was an incredible experience. The collective effort, flexibility and innovation showcased the power of collaboration in tackling global health challenges. We are proud that our contributions helped to deliver such impactful results.”

HALIX joined the consortium at the beginning of 2020 as one of the early partners, focusing on scaling up and optimizing the production process for the ChAdOx1 nCOVID-19 vaccine and producing clinical trial material. In December 2020, HALIX signed an agreement with AstraZeneca for the large-scale commercial manufacturing of the vaccine’s drug substance. Over the course of a year, HALIX produced enough commercial batches to cover over 80 million vaccine doses.

The MacRobert Award, presented by the Royal Academy of Engineering, acknowledges engineering innovation that demonstrates exceptional technical, social, and economic impact. This year’s finalists underscore the importance of collaborative efforts in achieving remarkable advancements in engineering and technology.

HALIX extends heartfelt congratulations to the University of Oxford, AstraZeneca, and all consortium partners involved. We remain committed to contributing to groundbreaking projects that drive significant positive change in global health.

More information is available here: https://macrobertaward.raeng.org.uk/previous-winners-and-finalists/2024-finalists

About HALIX

HALIX B.V. is a biopharmaceutical CDMO for biologics, enabling the treatment and prevention of life-threatening diseases. The company is focused on mammalian expression systems for the production of viral vectors and recombinant proteins. HALIX leverages scalable single-use, state-of-the-art bioprocessing technologies to provide its customers with services for the development and GMP manufacturing of drug substances and drug products. HALIX has entered into a number of contracts for the production of oncolytic immunotherapies and vaccines, utilizing innovative technologies, most notably the large-scale commercial drug substance manufacture of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine. The company opened its state-of-the-art 6,700 m2 GMP manufacturing facility in 2019, offering 1,000L SUB capacities, at the Leiden Bio Science Park, the Netherlands. HALIX is part of the family-owned Droege Group AG.

More information is available here: https://macrobertaward.raeng.org.uk/previous-winners-and-finalists/2024-finalists