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(Adds details on deal, company's other production agreements)
July 6 (Reuters) - Emergent BioSolutions Inc said on
Monday it had signed a five-year pact to make the drug substance
used in Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine candidate,
adding to a series of contracts likely to put it at the heart of
future global vaccine production.
Under the deal, starting next year Emergent will provide
large-scale manufacturing services to produce the drug substance
over five years, with the first two years valued at about $480
million.
The news follows a $135 million deal struck by the two
companies in April, to use Emergent's manufacturing facilities
to help make more than 1 billion doses of the vaccine J&J is
testing to stop the coronavirus.
Emergent has also signed similar deals to expand the
manufacturing capacity of COVID-19 vaccines under development by
AstraZeneca Plc, Novavax Inc and Vaxart Inc
.
The company last month also agreed a $628 million contract
with the U.S. government, which is looking to secure
manufacturing capacity for a potential COVID-19 vaccine under
its "Operation Warp Speed" program.
(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by
Ramakrishnan M. and Patrick Graham)
