Emergent BioSolutions Inc. on Monday hosted Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan at the multinational biopharmaceutical company’s East Baltimore, Md., Bayview facility where the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine candidate is being manufactured.
Emergent’s Bayview facility, which is designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing (CIADM), is designed for rapid, large-scale manufacturing of vaccines and other treatments.
“We were pleased to welcome Governor Hogan to our Baltimore Bayview facility, where upwards of 300 of our colleagues are working 24/7 to manufacture critically needed COVID-19 vaccines candidates,” Emergent CEO Robert Kramer said. “For more than two decades, we have focused on addressing public health threats in support of our mission — to protect and enhance life — and are proud to have a significant footprint in Maryland.”
Sean Kirk, Emergent’s executive vice president of manufacturing and technical operations, also joined Kramer and Gov. Hogan for a tour of the facility, where Emergent is fulfilling its $480 million contract to manufacture the Johnson & Johnson investigational single-dose COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Johnson & Johnson, which on Feb. 4 announced that it had submitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requesting an emergency use authorization (EUA) for its vaccine candidate, expects to have the product available to ship immediately following the FDA’s authorization and plans to supply 100 million doses to the U.S. in the first half of 2021. The FDA meets on Feb. 26 to discuss the company’s vaccine candidate.
During the tour, Kirk told Gov. Hogan that Emergent’s contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services and vaccine development expertise have prepared the company to rapidly respond to COVID with single-use bioreactor technology and four suites capable of producing hundreds of millions of doses depending on the platform.
And at Emergent’s 24/7 Bayview CIADM operations, the company has dedicated more than 300 employees to work on manufacturing the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine candidate.
“I want to thank @JNJGlobalHealth for selecting @emergentbiosolu to manufacture the life-saving vaccine in Baltimore City. Emergent is and remains a strong partner to the City of Baltimore, and we are proud of its role in fighting this pandemic,” tweeted Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott on Feb. 8.
Emergent also has another $174 million contract with AstraZeneca PLC to manufacture its two-dose COVID-19 vaccine regimen and is one of dozens of Maryland companies working to combat the ongoing pandemic.
Currently, Emergent has more than 1,000 employees of its total 2,600 workforce located across five facilities in Maryland. In addition to its Baltimore Bayview CIADM, Emergent’s DCMO network includes fill/finish facilities in Baltimore, Camden, and Rockville, Md., as well as a product development facility in Gaithersburg, Md., where Emergent’s headquarters is also located.
“Since the very beginning of this pandemic, I’ve said that Maryland’s world-class public health and research institutions would be at the forefront of developing and producing COVID-19 treatments and vaccines,” said Gov. Hogan. “We are immensely proud that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is being manufactured right here in Maryland, and are very optimistic about its impact on our continued fight against this deadly virus.”
In a partnership with Rite Aid, all Emergent employees essential to the manufacturing process started receiving vaccinations yesterday with one of the vaccines authorized under an EUA in an effort to maintain continuity of operations, according to the company.