Aspen eyes Serum Institute model as it seeks licence to make J&J vaccine

[September 02, 2021]  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare wants to model itself on India's Serum Institute by getting a licence to manufacture Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine, Aspen Chief Executive Stephen Saad said on Thursday.

"At the moment, J&J could take all the product we make because it's their product, and sell it to Europe, for example, sell it to the U.S. or Korea, wherever they choose to. We have no say in that," he told Reuters.

"It's like Serum where they get the licences to manufacture. It's not a foreign model and it's very exciting," he said on the licensing talks.

(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Edmund Blair)

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