More Emergent BioSolutions produced COVID vaccines destroyed than previously reported
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Contract vaccine manufacturer Emergent BioSolutions (NYSE:EBS) was forced to destroy 400M doses of COVID-19 vaccine due to contamination issues, a figure far higher than previously disclosed.
In a report from the House Oversight and Reform Committee, a communication from an Emergent quality control employee to executives said that quality control issues at the company's Baltimore plant were not fully corrected even though batches of vaccine were being made. This was just prior to a September 2020 inspection by U.S. FDA officials.
The quality issues at the Baltimore plant became national news due to the fact Emergent (EBS) was awarded a $628M federal contract, as well as separate contracts totaling $656M to produce COVID vaccines for Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and AstraZeneca (AZN).
Before the release of the report, Emergent (EBS) said 75M doses in total had to be discarded. The company suspended then resumed production of vaccines in July 2021.
Yellow tags were put on batches of J&J (JNJ) vaccine suspected of being contaminated, but were removed just prior to an FDA inspection, The New York Times reported. After the inspection, the tags were replaced, the reported stated, adding that senior managers were aware of the action.
A November 2020 email from a consultant hired by Emergent (EBS) said that the company's work was "non-compliant" and "a direct regulatory risk."
In a written response to the allegations in the report, Emergent (EBS) said that it disputes the claim that 400M doses were deemed unusable and denies it ever knowingly misled the FDA or public or private partners.
"The effort to manufacture two novel viral vaccine candidates in the same facility was unprecedented and potential risks were well known to all parties involved, including the FDA," the company wrote. "It was for this reason that Emergent (EBS) stayed in constant communication with the FDA, BARDA and our clients every step of the way." 
The manufacturing woes first became apparent in March 2021 after Emergent (EBS) was forced to destroy 15M J&J (JNJ) doses as they were accidentally mixed with ingredients from the AstraZeneca (AZN) vaccine.