Shares of drug manufacturer Catalent (NYSE: CTLT) were up by 10% at 2 p.m. Wednesday after the company announced it had signed an agreement with the Janssen Pharmaceuticals subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) to manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine. The agreement includes joint investment in expanding the capacity of Catalent's Bloomington, Indiana manufacturing facility. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Catalent plans to hire 300 workers for the plant starting in July and be ready to support a 24/7 manufacturing schedule by January. The 875,000 square-foot Bloomington facility has expertise in drug substance development and manufacture, and the company said the scale-up would involve the use of high-speed machines for vial filling and carton loading.
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