BioCentury
ARTICLE | Product Development

Pharma leaders warn vaccine manufacturing doesn’t turn on a dime

Executives caution manufacturing buildup may be slow for first vaccines, push back on IP pool

May 28, 2020 11:31 PM UTC

Don’t expect global manufacturing capacity to rapidly fill in for the first few COVID-19 vaccines to market, according to Paul Stoffels. The J&J vice chairman and CSO said it could take over a year for a manufacturing facility to switch over to produce a different type of vaccine.

Speaking at a press conference hosted by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), Stoffels and three other executives of pharmas developing COVID-19 vaccines also rejected the need for an IP pool for COVID-19 products. The rebuke comes a day before WHO’s planned launch of a voluntary platform to openly share data, knowledge and IP for candidates to prevent and treat the novel coronavirus...