Emergent BioSolutions Inc.’s $135 million deal struck late last month to manufacture Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate isn’t just a big financial win for the company — it’s also a key geopolitical move in the race to defeat the virus.
According to The New York Times, the Department of Health and Human Services made sure Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) — which is headquartered in New Jersey but has its research based in the Netherlands — joined a manufacturing partnership with the Maryland-based biotech to ensure the earliest available large batches of the vaccine, if approved, are produced stateside.