South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare, Johnson & Johnson sign COVID-19 vaccine deal

South African pharmaceutical company Aspen Pharmacare anunced signing a deal with two Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries to start manufacturing  multinational firm’s COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, vember 2.

As per reports, production will be based out of Aspen Pharmacare's sterile facility in South African city of Port Elizabeth. company said that it has invested more than $184 million in facility to enable manufacturing and packaging of drugs and vaccines. 

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Aspen signs deal with Johnson&Johnson

In a press release, Aspen said, "Aspen is pleased to anunce that one of its wholly-owned South African subsidiaries, Pharmacare Limited (which tres as 'Aspen Pharmacare'), has entered into a preliminary agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, two of Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, for technical transfer and proposed commercial manufacture of ir COVID-19 vaccine candidate, 26.COV2-S." 

Aspen Group's chief executive, Stephen Sa ded, "We have invested globally in our sterile capability and are determined to play a role in manufacture of vaccines to d to our proud track record of making contributions to humanity in times of global pandemics." 

Earlier on October 12, Johnson & Johnson anunced a temporarily paused Phase 3 clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate after one of participants fell sick. In a statement released on official website,   American multinational corporation assured that re is " greater priority than safety" of people and that it is committed to providing transparent updates of its clinical development process.

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However, it ded that study participant showcased an "unexplained illness" which is currently being reviewed and evaluated. Johnson & Johnson Phase 3 trial h started enrolling participants in late September and set a goal of recruiting up to 60,000 volunteers across more than 200 sites in US,  Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and South Africa. Earlier, Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 candidate was reported to have shown a strong immune response with a single dose in early trial sts.

COVID-19 pandemic which saw its first outbreak in a wet market in Wuhan, China last year has w spre all across world. virus, named COVID-19 by World Health Organisation, has infected 47,237,899 people worldwide with global death toll reaching at 1,209,786. As per John Hopkins coronavirus resource centre, United States has reported a total of at least 9,535,926 positive virus cases and has a death toll of 236,831. US currently has highest number of reported cases in world, making it epicentre of dely virus.

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