BIOLOGICAL E TO PRODUCE J&J COVID-19 VACCINE

NEW DELHI: Hyderabad-based Biological E will produce the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine alongside its own candidate, its managing director said on Tuesday, which could boost the country’s overall supplies amid a shortage.

“The infrastructure and plants are completely separate for both the products and we will be producing both independent of each other,” Mahima Datla told Reuters, but did not give any timeline.

She has said in February that Biological E was looking to contract-manufacture about 600 million doses of the J&J vaccine annually. The Union government, however, did not factor in any production of J&J this year in the country in a list of likely vaccine output released last week.

J&J confirmed it was working with Biological E on manufacturing its vaccine. “We believe Biological E will be an important part of our global Covid-19 vaccine supply network, where multiple manufacturing sites are involved in the production of our vaccine across different facilities, sometimes in different countries and continents, before the vaccine can be distributed,” a J&J India spokesperson said.→p4