An agreement has been struck between AstraZeneca Plc and Nipro Corp for supplying of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by the British-Swedish company in partnership with the University of Oxford in Japan, the Japanese firm said on Wednesday.
The contract between the two companies was related to the Japanese frim filling the shot into vials and getting them packaged, said the Tokyo-listed Nipro which is a major manufacturer of syringes and medical devices. The implementation of the agreement is to start next month.
The Japanese government will be purchasing 120 million doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine which would be enough for vaccinating 60 million people.
The vaccine developed by AstraZeneca as well as that developed by Moderna Inc was officially approved for using in the country by the Japanese authorities on Friday. The deal with Nipro is the third deal of AstraZeneca in Japan after its agreement of partnerships with Japan's Daiichi Sankyo Co and KM Biologics Co for preparing and bottling of its Covid-19 vaccine doses, said an AstraZeneca spokeswoman.
Initially, the doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine shots for Japan would be created from undiluted solution that the company will import from the United States. However over time, the supply will be gradually shifted to Japanese producers and the company has plans of making 90 per cent of the vaccines for Japan with the help of JCR Pharmaceuticals Co as well as other Japanese local partners.
The mass inoculation drive was started in Japan around the middle of February which was after most of the major economies had started to do so. The country has been importing Covid-19 vaccine doses from other countries from vaccine makers including shots of Pfizer Inc) and BioNTech SE. Earlier in the week, the Copvid-19 vaccine from Moderna was allowed to be used in Japan and its usage started off with opening of mass vaccination centres.
However there are no immediate plans of making use of the AstraZeneca's shot in Japan partly because of the lingering concerns over clots related to the administration of the shot raised internationally.
It was up to Japan's government how the doses would be used, said AstraZeneca's spokeswoman.
(Source:www.thestraitstimes.com)
The contract between the two companies was related to the Japanese frim filling the shot into vials and getting them packaged, said the Tokyo-listed Nipro which is a major manufacturer of syringes and medical devices. The implementation of the agreement is to start next month.
The Japanese government will be purchasing 120 million doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine which would be enough for vaccinating 60 million people.
The vaccine developed by AstraZeneca as well as that developed by Moderna Inc was officially approved for using in the country by the Japanese authorities on Friday. The deal with Nipro is the third deal of AstraZeneca in Japan after its agreement of partnerships with Japan's Daiichi Sankyo Co and KM Biologics Co for preparing and bottling of its Covid-19 vaccine doses, said an AstraZeneca spokeswoman.
Initially, the doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine shots for Japan would be created from undiluted solution that the company will import from the United States. However over time, the supply will be gradually shifted to Japanese producers and the company has plans of making 90 per cent of the vaccines for Japan with the help of JCR Pharmaceuticals Co as well as other Japanese local partners.
The mass inoculation drive was started in Japan around the middle of February which was after most of the major economies had started to do so. The country has been importing Covid-19 vaccine doses from other countries from vaccine makers including shots of Pfizer Inc) and BioNTech SE. Earlier in the week, the Copvid-19 vaccine from Moderna was allowed to be used in Japan and its usage started off with opening of mass vaccination centres.
However there are no immediate plans of making use of the AstraZeneca's shot in Japan partly because of the lingering concerns over clots related to the administration of the shot raised internationally.
It was up to Japan's government how the doses would be used, said AstraZeneca's spokeswoman.
(Source:www.thestraitstimes.com)
