Schott has the basic infrastructure to add glass vial production capacity at most of its facilities, including the US and Germany, for further one billion vaccine doses

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Glass vials as packaging for a potential COVID-19 vaccine. (Credit: getty images / onuroner/ SCHOTT AG.)

German pharmaceutical glass manufacturer Schott has agreed to provide pharma vials to package two billion vaccine Covid-19 doses.

The firm has signed agreements with major pharmaceutical companies that include partners of ‘Operation Warp Speed’, the US government initiative to serve local vaccine production needs.

Schott said that it has the basic infrastructure to add glass vial production capacity at many of its sites that include the US and Germany, for further one billion vaccine doses.

Schott to deliver first vials to companies in North America, Europe and Asia

Schott CEO Frank Heinricht said: “We have invested €350 million in recent months. Demand for high-quality pharma packaging has been high before Coronavirus. The fact that we had set up an investment program in 2019 now enables us to ramp up production quickly.

“Hence, no time-consuming adaptations of fill and finish equipment will slow down vaccine distribution. As time is a luxury the industry doesn’t have at the moment, it is common sense to rely on tried-and-true packaging solutions.”

The firm said that the regulatory bodies and pharma companies have validated its 20 production facilities for pharma glass and packaging. This allows the additional capacities to be used immediately without further regulatory efforts.

Additionally, the agreements with the companies will become effective immediately and the companies in North America, Europe and Asia will receive the first vials.

In April this year, Schott has introduced Smart Containers and each container is laser-marked with a unique identifier to create unprecedented traceability throughout the manufacturing process.

The new concept enables the pharma manufacturers to unlock the power of machine vision and big data analytics on pharmaceutical filling lines.