IDT Biologika is now using capacities at its Dessau site previously reserved for Takeda Pharmaceutical Company’s dengue vaccine candidate to fill and package the single-shot COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. IDT and Takeda announced an agreement to this end today. The vaccine is manufactured in Dessau for worldwide distribution.
After three months, this capacity will resume production of the TAK-003 dengue vaccine, which is crucial to its planned launch. Regulatory approval of this vaccine is pending. “I am grateful to our long-standing customer Takeda for its flexibility, which enables us to provide the world with much-needed COVID-19 vaccines,“ says Jürgen Betzing, CEO of IDT Biologika. “In recent months, it has become clear that the challenges of the pandemic can only be solved through cooperation and commitment.”
Betzing continues “This short-term agreement between three pharmaceutical companies demonstrates the willingness and ability of our industry to bring in creative ideas to solve this crisis. With our production for Janssen and AstraZeneca as well as the development of our own COVID-19 vaccine together with the German Center for Vaccine Research, our company can make an important contribution to the fight against COVID-19.” Rajeev Venkayya, President of Takeda’s Global Vaccine Division, says: “We are pleased to work with IDT to support Janssen’s efforts to make its COVID-19 vaccine available and accessible to as much of the world as possible. We also recognize the massive unmet need for a dengue vaccine and will work closely with IDT to mitigate the impact on the supply of TAK-003.”