- According to a recent report from the US House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis, Emergent Biosolutions Inc (NYSE:EBS) might have destroyed nearly 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines after failing to meet quality standards.
- Initially, 75 million - 85 million doses of drug substance were said to be destroyed after contamination.
- "Despite major red flags at its vaccine manufacturing facility, Emergent's executives swept these problems under the rug and continued to rake in taxpayer dollars," Rep. Carolyn Maloney said.
- Emergent hid the evidence, the report alleges, by removing quality-assurance hold tags from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) COVID-19 shot batches that indicated that the containers had quality issues.
- Related: Millions Of JNJ COVID-19 Shots Sit Idle At Emergent's Baltimore Plant: Reuters.
- The report also says that Emergent entered contracts with the two companies despite knowing that technical operations were not up to snuff for at least a few years.
- The CDMO maintains that it never knowingly misled the FDA or any partners involved in the manufacturing process.
- The report says that President Donald Trump's administration was aware of deficiencies highlighted at the Bayview site when it received $628 million in funding in May 2020.
- AstraZeneca Plc (NASDAQ:AZN) personnel raised concerns to Emergent in July of 2020.
- The report also found that inexperienced staff and the high turnover led to vaccine contamination.
- Price Action: EBS shares are down 8.03% at $27.96 on Wednesday.
- Image by torstensimon from Pixabay
