Johnson & Johnson will cut COVID-19 vaccine shipments by 86% in the coming week, according to CDC projections. The week of April 5, the company shipped nearly 5 million doses. Next week, that figure could fall to approximately 700,000. The company anticipates that it can eventually deliver up to 8 million doses weekly, assuming FDA authorizes…
These technologies are speeding COVID-19 vaccines to market
A combination of digital tools, improved production equipment, and advanced instrumentation helped COVID-19 vaccines to roll out in record time. Ben Arriola and Zach Blum, Emerson There is little doubt that researchers will study the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects from countless angles in the decades to come. Few events in modern times have had…
Why pharmaceutical companies are warming up to predictive maintenance
The pharmaceutical industry is warming to the concept of smart manufacturing — and predictive maintenance in particular. The reason for that trend is partly financial. A single hour of downtime can potentially cost millions of dollars in lost productivity, and predictive maintenance promises to make maintenance more efficient and effective. One traditional barrier to predictive…
Whistleblower: FDA downplayed safety issues at Merck vaccine plant
A former FDA inspector accused the agency of downplaying safety problems at a Merck plant tapped to manufacture Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine. The whistleblower alleged that a 2018 inspection uncovered evidence that employees in the facility in Durham, N.C. engaged in a host of unsanitary practices. A letter to President Biden from the U.S.…
BioNTech wins EMA nod for COVID-19 vaccine site in Germany
BioNTech has won approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to manufacture its COVID-19 vaccine Marburg, Germany–based facility. BioNTech will produce mRNA at the site, an instrumental component of the Comirnaty (BNT162b2) vaccine it jointly developed with Pfizer. The manufacturing for the vaccine process requires approximately 50,000 steps, which spans mRNA synthesis and manufacture of…
AbbVie accuses Alvotech of stealing Humira trade secrets
In a complaint filed in Illinois federal court, AbbVie alleges that the Icelandic biopharma company Alvotech sought to copy its rheumatoid arthritis blockbuster biologic Humira (adalimumab). The lawsuit accuses Alvotech of hiring a former AbbVie employee, Rongzan Ho, to help it develop a copycat version of Humira. Ho, a team leader of upstream manufacturing for…
Videojet debuts continuous inkjet printer that supports pharma applications
Coding, marking and printing specialist Videojet Technologies has introduced its Videojet 1880 continuous inkjet printer. The printer includes digital features to detect potential problems that can result in manufacturing downtime. The MAXIMiZE diagnostics platform analyzes printer health and performance patterns to signal if a fault is likely to occur. In the event of a possible…
Pharma’s been slow to adopt Industry 4.0 — but that could change
The pharma industry has been relatively slow to embrace concepts such as Industry 4.0, but COVID-19 is serving as a catalyst for sweeping changes within the industry. The philosophy has roots in a German framework that prioritizes digitization to drive manufacturing efficiency, promising that cyber-physical systems will usher in the next industrial revolution. The Industry…
Air-dryable master mixes replace lyophilization in the manufacturing of molecular assays
Quantitative PCR (qPCR) is the mainstream molecular technology for in vitro diagnostic assays. The introduction of freeze-drying to create ambient-temperature stable qPCR tests has improved assay stability and consistency and has enabled diagnostic companies to reduce supply chain and shipping costs. However, lyophilization is a complex and expensive process that requires expertise and sophisticated equipment…
Catalent to acquire Acorda’s manufacturing and packaging operations
Catalent (NYSE:CTLT) has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase a dry-powder inhaler (DPI) capsule manufacturing and packaging facility from Acorda Therapeutics (NSDQ:ACOR). The acquisition will enable Catalent to establish a center of excellence for spray-dried dispersion for DPI capsule manufacturing. The transaction will also expand Catalent’s existing U.S.-based commercial-scale capabilities in metered-dose inhalers and nasal…