Italian Minister of Health Roberto Speranza said on Monday that a plant owned by US group Catalent in Italy will help manufacture the future COVID-19 vaccine being produced by drugmaker Johnson & Johnson.
During a site visit in Anagni, a town 70 km from the Italian capital Rome, the minister said,
“It is today’s news that the vaccine Johnson & Johnson is working on will also be completed here.”
The plan to produce the potential Italian vaccine represents an expansion of an existing agreement between the two American companies.
New Jersey-based Catalent signed an agreement with J&J in April to provide services for vial-filling and packaging at its Bloomington, Indiana facility.
Catalent also handles filling and finishing services for AstraZeneca’s project of creating a COVID-19 vaccine at its Anagni factory.
It plans to handle the British drugmaker hundreds of millions of doses beginning as early as August 2020 and likely going up to March 2022.
