By Jared S. Hopkins
Some of the world's biggest drugmakers are joining forces with
rivals to help produce Covid-19 vaccines, forging unusual alliances
that promise to substantially increase supplies by this summer.
Normally big pharmaceutical companies compete to sell cancer,
arthritis and other drugs. The desperate need for Covid-19
vaccines, however, is turning fierce industry competitors into fast
pandemic friends.
Sanofi SA recently agreed to help make a vaccine from Pfizer
Inc. and its partner BioNTech SE after Sanofi's experimental
Covid-19 shot suffered a five-month setback, freeing up a
production line in Frankfurt.
"We were looking to contribute," said Thomas Triomphe, executive
vice president for vaccines for Sanofi, which will start in June
performing a crucial final step to make 125 million doses.
Novartis AG also agreed to help Pfizer and BioNTech produce more
doses, while Baxter International Inc. and Endo International PLC
have agreed to help Novavax Inc. produce its shot.
"This is a time when the pharma companies are saying, 'We'll go
back to fighting when this is over. We'll take you to the cleaners
and maybe drive you to bankruptcy, but right now we need to be
working together,'" said James Bruno, who consults for drug
companies.
The collaborations, along with the authorization of newer
vaccines and fine-tuning by the vaccine makers themselves, could
help significantly boost global output, as health authorities
scramble to vaccinate people amid the threat of emerging variants
that may increase spread of the virus.
Early supplies have been limited, as vaccine makers needed time
to increase production and overcome early hiccups and problems
getting raw materials.
The companies are supplying enough doses in the U.S. in February
to vaccinate 20 million people, but output is projected to increase
to 65 million people in June, according to analysts from Evercore
ISI.
Overcoming rivalries may be the easiest part of the tie-ups, as
partners must quickly learn the complex vaccine-making process and
install the necessary equipment.
Transferring the know-how to make mRNA vaccines, like the ones
from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Inc., is especially challenging
because the gene-based technology behind the shots is new,
manufacturing experts say. Especially difficult is increasing
production of the fatty envelopes that help protect the molecules
carrying mRNA shots to their cellular targets.
"It's all being built from scratch, and it's taking awhile to
get that up and validated," said Jim Robinson, a manufacturing
consultant who previously worked at Sanofi and Merck & Co.
So far, only shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are
authorized in the U.S., though a vaccine from Johnson & Johnson
could get greenlighted as soon as this week.
The production alliances are the latest example of industry
rivals coming together to fight the pandemic, starting with
research tie-ups.
They build upon a year-long effort by the drug industry and
partners to crank up capabilities to make everything from the tiny
vials that hold the shots to raw ingredients that make them.
The partnerships are bringing together companies that before the
pandemic filed patents, ran competing advertisements and deployed
sales representatives to secure sales for their medicines.
Pfizer, which has cancer drugs that compete with products from
Sanofi and Novartis, and BioNTech brought on partners to help
nearly double its 2021 production target to 2 billion doses.
"We're continuously looking at everything to try to create more
than the 2 billion doses," Pfizer Chief Financial Officer Frank
D'Amelio said in an interview.
Production can't start overnight. Vaccine manufacturing is a
complex process that often requires training staff, upgrading
facilities and buying new equipment, such as pumps, tubes and
stainless steel bioreactors. Regulators must sign off before
production starts.
Sanofi will perform fill-finish, a familiar step in the vaccine
process, whereby vials are filled with vaccines, capped and readied
for shipment, Mr. Triomphe said. He added that the company has six
months before giving priority to its own Covid-19 vaccine.
Sanofi still had to buy machines to accommodate Pfizer's vials
because Sanofi uses different ones for its own vaccines as well as
freezers to store at subzero temperatures.
"All these elements are very different when you switch from
manufacturing one product to another," said Mr. Triomphe. Sanofi
said Monday it would also help with fill-finish for Johnson &
Johnson's vaccine.
Novartis also signed up to do fill-finishing work for Pfizer and
BioNTech, and Novartis's Swiss plant is scheduled to deliver doses
as early as July, said Steffen Lang, who oversees the company's
manufacturing and supply operations.
Mr. Lang said the company is making tweaks to the plant's
production line, hiring more workers and shifting production of
other products to make room.
Novartis is speaking with companies about helping with earlier
steps in mRNA vaccine production that are tougher to scale, Mr.
Lang said. He declined to specify the companies.
Both AstraZeneca PLC, which has a vaccine authorized in the U.K.
and several other countries, and Moderna have signed deals with
contractors to make their shots.
AstraZeneca, which says it will double output of its Covid-19
vaccine in April despite some recent manufacturing problems,
continues to look for ways to expand production. The company
recently said it would increase supply through an existing
partnership with Germany's IDT Biologika GmbH.
Novavax, which has a vaccine in the late stages of development,
doesn't own a manufacturing plant and has to lean on other
companies to produce the shot.
Baxter said last month one of its plants in Germany will help
fill and finish Novavax's vaccine.
Likewise, Endo agreed to do similar work, upon the urging of the
U.S. government, said Robert Polke, who oversees manufacturing at
the company.
Endo only had to make minimal upgrades to its Rochester, Minn.,
plant, which makes sterile-injectable products and had extra
space.
"It's like I have the car, but I may need to put some new tires
in the back and put a new air filter in the engine," Mr. Polke
said.
More companies may follow. Merck, a pioneer in vaccines, is in
discussions with companies about lending its expertise after
scrapping two Covid-19 vaccine programs with lackluster results.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. is holding similar
discussions.
Write to Jared S. Hopkins at jared.hopkins@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 23, 2021 07:14 ET (12:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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