Start of production of Covid-19 vaccines on French soil this Wednesday



Syringes with the vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech in a vaccinodrome in Toulouse. – FRED SCHEIBER / SIPA

The starting signal is Wednesday. The production of vaccines in France against the Covid-19 must start this week, at a French subcontractor Delpharm, we learned on Monday from the
French Ministry of Economy and Finance, confirming press information.

“Production is due to start this week, in this case on Wednesday at Delpharm, in its plant in Saint-Rémy-sur-Avre (Eure-et-Loir, north-west of France), for (on behalf of the German laboratory) BioNTech ”, partner of the American Pfizer, Bercy told AFP.

Test batches to start

“They will start with the production of test batches at first, to ensure that everything complies with the expected quality standards and then switch as quickly as possible to the production of commercial batches”, specified the ministry of the French economy.

The ministry recalled that the French subcontractor Delpharm was one of the companies supported in recent months by the State, via the call for expressions of interest announced in mid-June 2020, and thanks to this support it will be able to put in bottles for the Pfizer / BioNTech alliance. Regarding production capacity, “companies do not wish at this stage to communicate on the expected volume,” said Bercy.

Moderna vaccines produced in France in mid-April

Because in addition to Delpharm, the Swedish Recipharm will produce vaccines for the American company Moderna, “by mid-April”, in its French factory in Monts (Indre-et-Loire, west).

The manufacturer Fareva should launch the production of CureVac, which is still subject to the condition of marketing authorization, in its factories in Pau and Val-de-Reuil (Eure, west ), Bercy said. Finally, the French company Sanofi will produce for Janssen (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), in Marcy-l’Etoile (Rhône, south-east).

“When we put all this end to end, we are on at least 250 million doses that will leave French sites by the end of the year, cumulatively,” said Bercy. A figure that does not include the vaccine developed by Sanofi, expected for the second half of the year, if clinical trials are conclusive.



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