Emergent BioSolutions To Sell MD Plant To Taiwan Company

GAITHERSBURG, MD — Maryland-based Emergent BioSolutions, which came under federal scrutiny during the height of the coronavirus pandemic for producing millions of contaminated Johnson & Johnson vaccine COVID-19 vaccines, plans to sell one of its Baltimore plants in an ongoing effort to improve profitability, according to the company.

The Gaithersburg-based company intends to sell its Camden plant to Bora Pharmaceuticals Injectables Inc., an affiliate of Taiwan’s Bora Pharmaceuticals, for $30 million, the company said in a news release.

The announcement comes just weeks after Emergent said it was laying off 300 people and eliminating 85 open positions, according to the company.

About 350 employees are expected to join Bora as part of the sale, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024.

"The decision to sell our Camden manufacturing facility is aligned with our multi-year plan to create a customer-focused, leaner, and more flexible organization, while we improve overall profitability and raise capital to reduce our debt," Joe Papa, president and CEO of Emergent, said in a statement. "We are working to ensure a smooth transition to Bora, especially for our Camden team and valued customers, over the coming weeks and months."

Emergent's struggles came to public view in late March 2021 when quality control checks revealed cross-contamination at the Baltimore facility, which was producing substances to be used in COVID-19 vaccine doses from both J&J and AstraZeneca.

In April 2021, FDA investigators flagged a series of shortcomings at the plant, including failure to properly disinfect equipment and improper training of employees.

The FDA shut down the Baltimore factory in the same month after the company was forced to trash the equivalent of tens of millions of doses of vaccine it was making under contract for J&J, The Associated Press reported. The bulk vaccine was contaminated with an ingredient for AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, which was made in the same factory.

The situation also prompted an investigation by congressional Democrats, who released a memo detailing Emergent's $27 million-a-month federal contract and documents showing that a Trump administration adviser flagged risks at the Emergent plant in June 2020.

The government allowed production to resume at the Baltimore plant in August 2021. Emergent received $330 million in taxpayer funds before the federal government terminated the contract in November 2021, The Associated Press reported.

In August 2022, a Congressional panel ordered the company to destroy about 135 million doses of J&J's COVID-19 vaccine produced at the Baltimore facility, according to AP. The announcement followed a report in May 2022 that detailed how 400 million vaccine doses produced at the plant previously had to be trashed.

Emergent previously announced last August that it would lay off 400 workers and reduce operations at its Baltimore and Canton, Massachusetts, plants. The company said it planned to focus on its core products, including the overdose reversal nasal spray Narcan and anthrax vaccines.