By Kimberly Chin

Johnson & Johnson said it will work with Emergent BioSolutions Inc. to expand the production of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, as the company looks to scale up manufacturing of its potential treatment globally.

In collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceutical Cos., which is a part of J&J, Emergent will provide drug manufacturing services starting this year. The Gaithersburg, Md., company will also set aside some of its operations to potentially support the commercial manufacturing of J&J's Covid-19 vaccine candidate, J&J said.

J&J said that it is already preparing for clinical vaccine production at its Leiden, the Netherlands facility. It expects to start its Phase 1 clinical trial of its vaccine candidate on humans in September.

The company said that it will start production "at risk" and it "is committed to bringing an affordable vaccine to the public on a not-for-profit basis."

J&J has a goal of supplying more than one billion doses of the vaccine globally.

Shares of Emergent, which has gained 26% in the past 12 months, rose 7.6% in after-hours trading to $71.65. J&J's shares were unchanged.

Write to Kimberly Chin at kimberly.chin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 23, 2020 19:56 ET (23:56 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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