Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021
To speed up production
Rivale helps J&J manufacture vaccines
Johnson & Johnson's corona vaccine is the third approved drug in the United States with an emergency approval. In order to cope with the demand, the pharmaceutical counterparty Merck helps with the production. There should also be partnerships like this in the EU.
The US pharmaceutical company Merck & Co wants to support rival Johnson & Johnson in the production of its Covid-19 vaccine. A corresponding partnership will be announced by US President Joe Biden, it said from the White House. J & J's vaccine received an emergency approval over the weekend in the United States. It is the third corona vaccine approved in the USA after the funds from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the first to require only one dose.
J&J said the company is looking for partnerships to expand its production. Around four million doses of the vaccine are expected to be shipped in the United States this week. However, further deliveries still depend on the official approval of a larger new production facility operated by contract manufacturer Catalent. J&J plans to deliver a further 16 million cans by the end of March.
Merck & Co buried its development program with two Covid-19 vaccine candidates in January after the two vaccines produced an inadequate immune response in early clinical trials. The group then wanted to concentrate only on drugs for the treatment of the lung disease with Covid-19. According to a report in the Washington Post, the company now wants to help J&J with two US plants.
The cooperation between competitors Merck and Johnson & Johnson is unusual, but not a first: The French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi announced at the end of January that it would help the US company Pfizer and its German partner Biontech with the production of their corona vaccine.
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