Catalent boosting Moderna vaccine production
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — New Jersey-based Catalent Inc. (NYSE: CTLT) is ramping up production of the Moderna Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA) COVID-19 vaccine at its facility in Bloomington. The Wall Street Journal reports the pharmaceutical company has agreed to increase efforts to produce about 400 vials per minute.
Catalent plans to move the manufacturing of the vaccine to its new, high-speed vial filling line in Bloomington, plans for which were announced in September. The company plans to begin shipping the new doses next month, according to the publication.
The Bloomington facility provides fill-finish manufacturing of the Moderna vaccine, which involves vial filling and packaging. The new production line will allow Catalent to fill an additional 80 million vials per year.
The partnership between Moderna and Catalent was first announced last June with the goal of producing an initial 100 million doses of the vaccine, a goal the company says it reached at the end of March.
Catalent says it will dedicate the new filling line for Moderna’s use through June of 2023. The Wall Street Journal reports Catalent expects to produce about one billion doses of the vaccine annually during that time.
“We appreciate this expanded collaboration with Catalent and the dedication of their team,” said Juan Andres, chief technical operations and quality officer. “This additional fill-finish capacity will be important for not only our COVID-19 vaccine, but also potentially for other programs in our clinical development pipeline.”
Catalent is also using the Bloomington facility to help produce the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for COVID-19. In an interview last month with Inside INdiana Business, plant general manager Denis Johnson said the company has been working at a very rapid pace to keep up with production.
You can read the full story from The Wall Street Journal by clicking here.