Takeda and IDT Biologika to Manufacture J&J’s COVID-19 Vaccine

Takeda announced on March 15, 2021 that it has entered into a mutual agreement with IDT Biologika, a contract development and manufacturing organization, to use capacity at IDT previously reserved for Takeda’s dengue vaccine candidate, TAK-003, to manufacture the single-shot COVID-19 vaccine from Janssen Pharmaceutical, a Johnson & Johnson company.

Under the terms of the agreement, the space will be used for three months before being returned to Takeda to resume manufacturing of its dengue vaccine, Takeda said in a company press release.

“We are pleased to work with IDT to support Janssen’s efforts to make its COVID-19 vaccine available and accessible to as much of the world as possible,” said Rajeev Venkayya, president, Global Vaccine Business Unit at Takeda, in the press release. “We also recognize the massive unmet need for a dengue vaccine and will work closely with IDT to mitigate the impact on the supply of TAK-003.”

“I am grateful to our longstanding customer Takeda for their flexibility, allowing us to help provide much-needed COVID-19 vaccines to the world,” added Jürgen Betzing, IDT Biologika’s CEO. “It has become abundantly clear over the past months that the challenges posed by the pandemic can only be solved by cooperation and commitment. I believe this short-term arrangement between three industry organizations demonstrates our sector’s willingness and ability to contribute to creatively solving this crisis.”

Takeda previously announced partnerships with Moderna and Novavax to help provide access to COVID-19 vaccines in Japan, according to the press release. Currently, the company is responsible for the development and commercialization of more than 250 million doses of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine and the distribution of 50 million doses of Moderna’s messenger RNA COVID-19 vaccine.

Source: Takeda