Emergent BioSolutions Stock Higher As COVID-19 Vaccine Production To Resume At Baltimore Plant

Emergent BioSolutions Inc EBS will resume production of Johnson & Johnson's JNJ COVID-19 vaccine at its troubled Baltimore facility, where operations were stopped in April after millions of doses were found to be contaminated.
The development comes after J&J last week slashed the 2021 production target of its single-dose vaccine to between 500 million and 600 million doses from its original goal to produce 1 billion shots.
Emergent Chief Executive Officer Robert Kramer said the resumption follows additional reviews and collaboration with the FDA and manufacturing partners.
The FDA has so far approved five batches from the Emergent facility since production there was paused, and J&J is working to clear additional doses for use, the drugmaker said last week.
"We will continue to work toward securing Emergency Use Authorization in the United States for drug substance manufactured at Emergent Bayview as quickly as possible," J&J said in an email.
The facility could make as many as 120 million doses a month at full capacity, but the finished doses might not be available until this fall, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Price Action: JNJ stock is down 0.40% at $171.49, and EBS shares are up 1.98% at $66.45 during the market session on the last check Thursday.
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