CHICAGO/FRANKFURT • The chief scientist of Johnson & Johnson said the company expects to produce up to three billion doses of its Covid-19 jab next year, after the European Union (EU) approved the one-shot vaccine on Thursday.
The company is bringing on three manufacturing plants to produce the key drug substance for the vaccine. It will also have seven plants globally to handle the "fill and finish" - the final production steps and bottling into vials.
"All these will function together to deliver... one billion by the end of the year," said Dr Paul Stoffels, J&J's chief scientific officer.
"Next year, we can do more than two billion vaccines, and even up to three if we maximise capacity. With Merck on board, we will be north of two billion," he added, referring to a recent deal for rival Merck & Co to produce J&J's vaccine.
Dr Stoffels said he was confident that J&J can deliver a planned 55 million doses to the EU in the second quarter of this year. An EU official said earlier this week that J&J had flagged possible supply issues that may complicate these plans.
"We trust that we can deliver close to that amount in Q2," Dr Stoffels said. "It is the fill and finish that was the critical part... We started later and had later access to facilities."
J&J's shot is the fourth to be endorsed for use in the EU, after vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Moderna.
Europe is scrambling to get immunisation campaigns off the ground after an early supply shortfall from Pfizer that has since been resolved, and more persistent issues with AstraZeneca.
J&J's vaccine is expected to be used widely around the globe because of its one-shot convenience and logistical advantage of being shipped and stored at normal refrigerator temperatures.
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses and must be shipped frozen.
Thursday's approval included authorisation in Europe of Mary-land-based Emergent BioSolutions, which is making the active drug substance for the vaccine.
"Emergent is a very critical supplier. It is important for both the US and Europe and other parts of the world," Dr Stoffels said, adding that it can deliver enough drug substance for "up to a billion vaccines a year".
Dr Stoffels said that in the United States, the company was allowed to seek emergency use authorisation for only one manufacturing plant to produce the drug substance.
Initial US doses are being made at the company's plant in Leiden, the Netherlands. J&J is awaiting US approvals of the Emergent plant for drug substance production, and for Catalent, a contract manufacturer that will handle the fill and finish from a new manufacturing line in Bloomington, Indiana.
Dr Stoffels said that as soon as J&J received US authorisation for the vaccine, US regulators started reviewing the company's additional production plants.
He said early "hiccups" have been resolved, and the company expects to deliver on its promise of 100 million doses before the end of June.
In Europe, Dr Stoffels said, the firm plans to significantly scale up production of its Leiden plant. Greater capacity will come on board, most likely over the summer.
Indian drugmaker Biological E will handle both drug substance and fill and finish for J&J's vaccine. The company's managing director said last month that it was looking to contract manufacture roughly 600 million doses of J&J's Covid-19 vaccine a year.
Biological E is in the process of installing and validating equipment in the plant, which Dr Stoffels said he expects to be ready in the second half of this year.
REUTERS
