Following an expansion and qualification phase, the consortium formed by Wacker Chemie and CordenPharma in Germany officially entered ‘pandemic readiness’ for the production of mRNA-based vaccines as of 1 June. They are now in stand-by phase and will receive a fee from the government for keeping their capacity and expertise available for at least five years. In all, they will be able to produce 80 million doses/year at short notice.

Evotec has bought the German manufacturing operations of Japan’s Central Glass for a nominal €1. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close on 1 November. The business will be renamed Evotec Drug Substance (Germany).

Wacker Chemie has announced plans to invest “a double-digit million euro amount” on it the new Biotechnology Centre at its corporate research facility in Munich, which is due to be operational in 2024. CEO Christian Hartel said that building it “will allow us to concentrate and intensify our research activities in the area of biotechnology. The additional capacity we will create here will accelerate the growth of our life-sciences division.”