Pfizer announced earlier this month that its mRNA vaccine candidate BNT162b2, being developed with German biotech partner BioNTech, has been shown to be more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 in participants without evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Croda said it has reprioritized investment, resources and other projects across the group over the past few months to focus on the project.

Commenting on the agreement, Croda CEO Steve Foots said: “The application of our innovative capabilities is testament to the strong progress we have made to create industry-leading drug delivery systems, focused on developing specialty excipients and adjuvants to improve the effectiveness and stability of complex drug actives and vaccines. It is another example of why our purpose - Smart Science to Improve Lives – sits at the heart of our strategy and will continue to drive our priorities and ambitions in the years ahead.”

Croda drug delivery subsidiary Avanti Polar Lipids – acquired in August – specializes in the development and production of high-purity lipids to produce research and clinical trial quantities of excipients to stabilize formulations and enable delivery of the drug or vaccine into the body by injection.