AstraZeneca has signed a supply agreement with U.K. pharmaceutical-maker Oxford Biomedica to manufacture Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate for 18 months, the companies said.

Under the terms of the deal, AstraZeneca agreed to pay Oxford Biomedica $20 million to reserve 1,000 liters of production capacity.

Oxford Biomedica’s vaccine candidate, known as AZD1222, is being developed by the Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group. The vaccine would be produced at the Oxbox commercial manufacturing center. Two new suites within Oxbox are expected to become operational in the next two months, the company said.

The agreement can be extended 18 months into 2022 and 2023. Oxford said it expects to take in revenue of around $47 million, plus material costs, for the manufacture of multiple large-scale batches of AZD1222 through the end of next year.

“We have been working hard with AstraZeneca and other partners to establish GMP manufacturing of AZD1222 at scale, and we are therefore very pleased to extend our current partnership to include large-scale manufacturing of the vaccine candidate,” Oxford chief executive officer John Dawson said in a statement.

The company previously signed a supply agreement with AstraZeneca in May for one year and 200 liters of capacity.

Last month, the European Commission announced an agreement with AstraZeneca to purchase 300 million doses of a vaccine for nearly $400 million once one has proven to be safe and effective. That agreement includes an option for an additional 100 million doses at a later date.

The World Health Organization is currently tracking more than 25 potential vaccine candidates in clinical trials globally, with companies including BioNtech, Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax, Johnson & Johnson, and CureVac among the leaders.

AstraZeneca agreed to provide 300 million doses of a potential vaccine in the U.S. under a deal with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority in May.

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