Spanish firm to produce J&J’s virus vaccine in Barcelona

Spanish pharmaceutical
company Reig Jofre said Tuesday it had reached an agreement with Johnson &
Johnson to produce the US drugmaker’s giant’s COVID-19 vaccine at its plant in
Barcelona.

Under the terms of the
agreement, Reig Jofre said it will be responsible for the formulation, filling
and packaging of the vaccine once it get regulatory approval, while J&J’s
Belgian subsidiary Janssen will handle distribution.

Reig Jofre in 2018
invested 30 million euros ($36.4 million) to build a new plant in Barcelona,
which will start operating during the first quarter of 2021 and will triple its
existing production capacity, the company said in a statement.

“We are proud to
see that the sustained effort of Reig Jofre to invest in technology and
industrial capabilities will now be decisive for contributing to deploy a
COVID-19 vaccine into a large number of countries,” Reig Jofre chief
executive officer Ignasi Biosca said in the statement.

Also read: FDA clears first at-home COVID-19 test

J&J’s candidate
vaccine is currently undergoing final-stage clinical trials involving 60,000
participants at more than 200 locations in the US and other countries. Results
are expected in late January.

Founded in 1929 in
Barcelona, Reig Jofre has over 1,100 employees spread out in three production
centres in Spain and one in Sweden, according to its website.