Johnson & Johnson Cuts Production, Ends Contracts For Not So Successful COVID-19 Shot

Johnson & Johnson JNJ has significantly scaled back its efforts of manufacturing its COVID-19 vaccine after facing a fall in demand.
The FDA approved the single-dose shot in February 2021 as it carried fewer cold-chain storage requirements than other shots.
J&J's initial supply was small. At least nine companies agreed to help manufacture J&J's shot. Wall Street Journal noted.
Yet J&J's vaccine hasn't been as widely used as the Moderna Inc MRNA or Pfizer Inc PFE and BioNTech SE BNTX shots.
Manufacturing issues limited the shot's availability, and the risk of a severe but rare blood-clotting condition discouraged some people from using it.
Roughly 400 million doses of the original Pfizer-BioNTech shot and nearly 250 million doses of the original Moderna shot have been administered in the U.S., compared with about 19 million J&J doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The pharma giant has terminated manufacturing agreements with companies that helped produce the shot during the pandemic, such as Catalent Inc CTLT and Sanofi SA SNY.
Also, a partnership with Merck & Co Inc MRK to help make the shots, forged at the U.S. government's urging, has fallen short of expectations. The companies are now engaged in arbitration.
Catalent agreed to early termination of contracts with J&J for fill-and-finish of vaccine vials. Catalent said it received payments of $54 million from J&J to resolve the contracts in October.
In June, J&J planned to terminate its Covid-19 vaccine supply with Emergent BioSolutions Inc EBS, and both companies accused each other of breaching the agreement.
In the most recent quarter, JNJ generated $489 million in COVID-19 vaccine sales during the quarter, with none from the U.S.
In the Q1 earnings release, JNJ suspended its sales forecast for the COVID-19 vaccine due to global supply surplus and demand uncertainty.
Price Action: JNJ shares are down 0.43% at $173.26 on the last check Friday.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons

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