Two Gaithersburg-based life sciences companies have expanded upon their initial agreement to manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine called AZD1222. The vaccine is already in late-stage clinical trials.

Emergent BioSolutions was awarded additional funding from AstraZeneca worth $174 million, up from the $87 million in the initial agreement and is also expanded to last through June 2021.

Last week, AstaZeneca reported ‘robust’ data from clinical trials where patients taking the vaccine showed a four-fold increase in antibodies after a month of injections.

The vaccine candidate was also chosen as part of the Trump Administration’s Operation Warp Speed (OWS) that will ‘accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 medical countermeasures’ according to Emergent.

The vaccine manufacturing will happen at Emergent’s Bayview facility in the City of Baltimore.