Japan’s Fujifilm gets $265 million U.S. contract to boost output of potential virus vaccine
TOKYO (Reuters) – The United States has awarded a $265 million contract to a Texas facility of Japan’s Fujifilm Holdings Corp to step up production of a coronavirus vaccine candidate, President Donald Trump said.
Trump made the announcement on Monday, as he toured another Fujifilm facility in North Carolina. The order widens a pact between the Department of Health and Human Services, the Texas A&M university system and Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies.
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during a tour of the Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies’ Innovation Center, a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant where components for a potential coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine candidate Novavax are being developed, in Morrrisville, North Carolina, U.S., July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
The funds will speed by several months an expansion planned at the Texas facility in College Station, with completion now expected this fall, Fujifilm said in a news release.
Last week, Fujifilm Diosynth, a drug ingredient subsidiary of the Japanese firm, said it would make bulk drug substances for Novavax Inc.’s virus vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373.
It added that it would spend $928 million to double capacity at a Denmark facility that is also involved in making virus treatments.
The company’s shares climbed 3.2% in Tokyo in a flat overall market.
Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
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