FX.co ★ Millions of J&J vaccines doses thrown away after ingredient mix-up

According to The Wall Street Journal, 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine have been ruined because of a mix-up with ingredients. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating the incident.

On March 31, J&J received a large batch of the main ingredient for the development of the coronavirus vaccine at the Emergent plant. Later, it turned out that the drug did not meet quality standards at Emergent BioSolutions. As a result, the manufacturing of the drug substance for the Covid-19 vaccine was halted. FDA representatives were trying to figure out why the batch of almost ready COVID-19 vaccines was thrown away due to non-compliance with quality standards.

During the investigation, it was revealed that 15 million J&J vaccine doses were ruined due to a human error. Workers at the plant in Baltimore, run by Emergent BioSolutions, conflated ingredients.

On April 1, Emergent BioSolutions, Gaithersburg, Maryland, announced the disposal of an almost finished batch of ingredients for the COVID-19 vaccine. The reason for this was non-compliance with quality standards.

Despite the setback, the management of J&J assures that it will exceed the March plan for the drug production. Earlier, the company provided the US with more than 20 million doses. By the end of April, it is planning to deliver 24 million doses and by the end of June- an additional 100 million doses. Notably, the Joe Biden administration expects them by the end of May.

Following the incident, J&J intends to send a team of production, technical operations, and quality experts to the Emergent plant. The company believes that this measure will help control and maintain the production of the vaccine.