Explore Croda Pharma's race to beat COVID-19

The development of a COVID-19 vaccine required intense collaboration across the pharmaceutical supply chain. We worked closely with companies and universities developing vaccines, supporting them as a formulation and excipient partner throughout the development phase as well as during clinical trials and scale-up processes. We shared our smart science, including new and extended data sets, with research institutions as they worked to understand how a vaccine for the virus might be developed.

Our speciality excipients, lipids and adjuvants were formulated as critical components in COVID-19 vaccines. This support and the new technologies required for some of these vaccines were developed through exceptional collaboration between vaccine developers and our teams, spanning Biosector (now Croda Denmark) and Avanti and sites across Croda. These cross-functional teams, with our partners, worked at high speed to refine the complex processes involved in achieving the volumes and purity required for the vaccines as they became approved for use. 

During the pandemic, we gifted our leading saponin vaccine adjuvants and other components to teams working on vaccine development across the world. In addition to much needed vaccines, the outbreak of COVID-19 resulted in huge demand for hand sanitiser, used to minimise the spread of the virus. Glycerine became a much sought-after ingredient as it helps to protect hands from the drying effects of other sanitiser ingredients, such as alcohol. With hand sanitiser in short supply, we supported our customers in their manufacture of this critical item by gifting enough glycerine to manufacture five million* bottles.

*Five million bottles assumes 250ml bottles with a 2% glycerine content.

We're committed to supporting the immunisation agenda of the World Health Organization (WHO). We're proud to use Smart science to improve lives™ and are committed to empowering biologics delivery. Discover our excipients and bioprocessing solutions here.