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French drugmaker Sanofi, struggling with development delays with its own candidate COVID-19 vaccines, is divesting more of its vaccine production facilities to industrial competitors, partnering with Johnson & Johnson to produce millions of doses of its rival coronavirus vaccine.
Johnson & Johnson is the second rival to strike a deal with Sanofi to use its facilities, an unusual collaboration for the competitive industry now facing intense pressure from governments to ramp up vaccine production against the devastating global pandemic .
Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson said the deal the company announced on Monday demonstrated its “commitment to the collective effort to end this crisis as quickly as possible.”
Sanofi continues to prioritize the development of its two coronavirus vaccination programs, Hudson said in a company statement.
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But “where we have the right manufacturing capabilities, we take a step forward to show solidarity in the industry and continue to do our part in the fight against COVID-19,” he added.
Sanofi said its Marcy l’Etoile vaccine manufacturing plant near the city of Lyon will formulate and fill single-dose vaccine vials for the Janssen companies of Johnson & Johnson.
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Sanofi will mix the vaccine ingredients sent to it by Janssen and fill the vials, then return the full vials to Janssen for packaging. The French plant is expected to produce around 12 million doses per month, starting in the second half of this year.
Sanofi had previously announced that its facility in Frankfurt, Germany, would also help bottle and package 125 million doses of the vaccine for the rival Pfizer-BioNTech partnership.
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Sanofi’s latest announcement was quickly announced by French President Emmanuel Macron. His government has pressed Sanofi to use its facilities to help manufacture vaccines for rivals, due to strong global vaccine demand and supply issues.
“We must together accelerate vaccine production with industrial partnerships,” Macron tweeted.
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