On Monday, Trump will visit the FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Innovation Center in Morrisville. During the visit, Trump will tour the facilities used to support the manufacturing of “key components of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate” developed by Novavax.
After the tour, White House officials say Trump will discuss collaboration between his administration and the private sector to accelerate the development of a COVID-19 vaccine suitable for human use.
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“FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies develops processes that are designed to quickly lead to efficient, robust, and high-quality biological manufacturing,” said White House officials. “FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies is manufacturing a bulk drug for NVX-CoV2373, a candidate for Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine, which is currently in a phase 1 clinical trial, and is expected to progress to phase 2 in mid August and phase 3 in the fall. “
FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, the Bioprocess Innovation Center first opened at Research Triangle Park in 2016.
Martin Meeson, the CEO of the manufacturing company, says the North Carolina facility employs 500 workers with 2,500 employees worldwide.
“We are very excited and proud that we have been selected. The team is working very hard here: They did a fantastic job of making the program work at a fast pace,” Meeson told ABC11. “Obviously we are excited to receive the President and bring him what we do here and help him see what is going on in making a vaccine like this.”
The North Carolina Democratic Party released the following statement about Trump’s planned visit on Thursday night:
“That Donald Trump visits North Carolina just after the state exceeded 100,000 cases of coronavirus is an adequate visualization of his inability to contain this pandemic. Small businesses across the state have closed and hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians continue no job because of Trump Administration mismanagement of the crisis, and no photoshoot can change those facts. Trump’s legacy will be one of sheer incompetence, and in just over 100 days, voters here will reject him ”
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