

partners-Catalent, Inc., in Indiana Michigan-based Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing (GRAM) PCI and Merck in Pennsylvania-as well as Reig Jofre in Spain, a Catalent facility in Italy, Biological E Limited in India, ASPEN Pharmacare in South Africa and Sanofi Pasteur in France. So, in April, the company announced a collaboration with its first manufacturing partner, Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., based in Maryland.īetween then and March 2021, Johnson & Johnson announced collaborations with four more U.S. "But we knew the scale here was so big that we couldn't do everything ourselves. "We have a lot of experience," Colarusso says.
#Vaccine production companies trial
Johnson & Johnson quickly prepared to produce the clinical trial supply of its investigational Janssen COVID-19 vaccine candidate at its vaccine launch facility in Leiden, the Netherlands, which was built in 2018 for the express purpose of large-scale production of vaccines for clinical trials and, pending regulatory approvals, the launch of new vaccines.īut the sheer scale of the pandemic quickly made it clear that more resources would be needed. The first step in preparing to supply a vaccine worldwide: activating manufacturing capabilities. This unprecedented speed has been made possible due to extensive and unprecedented collaborations and partnerships with governments, regulatory authorities and the scientific community around the world, as well as the company's ability to streamline the production process based on past experience with vaccine development. “We all knew that if we planned to get this investigational Janssen COVID-19 vaccine candidate out quickly, we would have to help get done in months what normally takes years.” “Vaccine development and production typically takes five to seven years, but our R&D and supply chain teams didn’t have the luxury of time,” says Paul Lefebvre, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Chain, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. The company also announced a goal of making it available for potential emergency use in early 2021-and to supply doses for emergency pandemic use on a not-for-profit basis. If you're curious to see what this teamwork is like in action, here's a month-by-month look at our vaccine’s journey from single cells in the laboratory to vials stocked in a warehouse.Īs soon as news of SARS-CoV-2-the virus that causes COVID-19-hit early last year, Johnson & Johnson began to research potential investigational vaccine candidates in partnership with the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School.īased on this work, scientists were able to identify a lead investigational Janssen COVID-19 vaccine candidate in March. “It’s a testament to the inspiring teamwork exemplified at our company,” Colarusso says. For well over a century, the company has played a leading role in helping to address epidemics and pandemics through innovation, dating as far back as the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918, when it began mass-producing epidemic masks. Indeed, Johnson & Johnson is built for times like these. This crucial work and such unprecedented partnerships speak to Our Credo, the company's guiding mission statement, which states that Johnson & Johnson's first responsibility is to the patients, doctors and nurses, mothers and fathers and all others who use the company's products. Through the agreement, Merck will use its facilities to produce drug substance, as well as formulate and fill vials of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine.


government that Johnson & Johnson will partner with Merck to make its Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine. "So we get to build on what we already have, which really helps us with transportation and distribution without the need for special temperatures.”Īdd to that an announcement today from the U.S.

“We have standard cold chain technologies that we’ve been using for more than 30 years to distribute other medications," says Remo Colarusso Remo Colarusso, Vice President, Janssen Supply Chain, LLC at Johnson & Johnson, Vice President, Janssen Supply Chain, LLC, Johnson & Johnson. 8 Things to Know About Johnson & Johnson's Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine
