Hyderabad based Biological E. to produce Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine

India's Biological E. plans to produce the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine alongside its own candidate.

"The infrastructure and plants are completely separate for both the products and we will be producing both independent of each other," Biological E's managing director Mahima Datla said in a text message, declining to give any timeline or other details.

Biological E., based in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, also plans to produce 75 million to 80 million doses of its own vaccine a month from August. The drug has been developed with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Dynavax Technologies Corp.

The United States said in March it would finance Biological E.'s efforts to produce at least 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of 2022.

India was unlikely to resume major exports of Covid-19 vaccines until at least October as it diverts shots for domestic use, a longer-than-expected delay set to worsen supply shortages from the global COVAX initiative.