Firm To Produce Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 Vaccine In France
French drugmaker Sanofi on Monday said it will provide support in manufacturing the COVID-19 vaccine developed by its American rival Johnson & Johnson to help address global supply demands.
In a statement, Sanofi announced partnership with Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen pharmaceutical NV and Janssen pharmaceuticals, Inc; and that it is awaiting approval from the US and European authorities to produce and market the vaccine.
Once authorized, the statement said, the French drugmaker will provide Johnson & Johnson access to its vaccine manufacturing plant in Lyon city to formulate and fill vials of Janssen’s vaccine candidate, producing approximately 12 million doses per month.
This is the second partnership for Sanofi with its rival as its own vaccine candidate faces delays. In January, it entered a similar agreement to provide manufacturing support to the vaccine jointly produced by Pfizer and BioNTech.
Sanofi also said it has resumed Phase 2 trial on Monday on its own COVID-19 vaccine together with Britain’s GSK.
The new study will evaluate the safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity of the vaccine in 720 volunteers aged 18-59. Based on the results, the company said it hopes to start Phase 3 trial and make the vaccine available towards the end of 2021.
An earlier trial of the vaccine candidate, which is based on technology used to produce seasonal influenza vaccines and on immunological agents, had shown “a low immune response in older adults.”
The company said it has also commenced “development work against new variants [of the virus], which will be used to inform next stages of the Sanofi/GSK development program.”
