Sanofi will produce up to 12 million doses of coronavirus vaccine per month for rival Johnson & Johnson, the second time that the French pharmaceutical company is delivering production facilities to accelerate the supply of a rival company’s vaccine as its own candidate faces delays.
Sanofi’s announcement on Monday was quickly touted by French President Emmanuel Macron, who relayed the development to his Twitter account.
“We must together accelerate the production of vaccines with industrial partnerships,” tweeted Macron.
Sanofi said its vaccine factory in Marcy l’Etoile, France, will formulate and fill vials of the Johnson & Johnson candidate vaccine, developed by its Janssen companies. Sanofi said its factory in France is expected to produce around 12 million doses per month of the single dose vaccine.
Sanofi’s CEO Paul Hudson said the company remains committed to its own two COVID-19 vaccine programs, but is also “taking a step forward to show solidarity”. Sanofi has previously announced that it will help bottle and pack 125 million doses of vaccines for the rival Pfizer / BioNTech partnership.