Reig Jofre will start producing the Janssen vaccine in Sant Joan Despí in June

The new Reig Jofre plant in its Sant Joan Despí facilities is finalizing preparations to be able to start producing the Janssen vaccine, a pharmaceutical subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, by mid-June. This was confirmed during a visit to the company by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, and the European Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, who is touring member states to learn about the companies that will produce vaccines against covid-19.

The factory, which was completed in this first quarter and involved an investment of more than 30 million euros, is expected to have the capacity to produce around one million vaccines daily, as announced by Maroto. The minister also explained that the first batch of Janssen vaccines, which only require one dose, will arrive in Spain in April, although these will come from other plants and they will have to wait for those from Reig Jofre. In total, next month, 5.5 million vaccines will arrive and 800,000 will be for Catalonia.

From Sant Joan Despí, the pharmaceutical company directed by Ignasi Biosca will be in charge of filling the vials with the vaccine ---the active ingredient is manufactured in the Netherlands and from there it will be transported to the Baix Llobregat plant--- and carrying out the packaging, a process known as fill and finish. The vaccine will be distributed by the Belgian pharmaceutical company.

These facilities will be mainly dedicated to vaccine manufacturing, but other projects will also be developed. Reig Jofre's production center in Sant Joan Despí specializes in injectable medicines for hospital use. The new plant began construction in 2018, with the aim of tripling the Catalan company's capacity and increasing energy and production efficiency.

In addition to the Sant Joan Despí plant, which also houses the corporate headquarters and a research and development (R&D) center, the pharmaceutical company has two plants in Toledo, specialized in penicillin-derived medicines, and another in Sweden. Founded in 1929 in Barcelona, Reig Jofre is dedicated to the research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products and food supplements. It has more than 1,100 employees, direct sales in seven countries, and more than 130 commercial partners in 70 countries worldwide. Last year, it recorded sales of 230 million euros and a profit of 5.7 million euros.