Thermo Fisher Scientific, a global leader in serving science, continues to expand global capacity and capabilities across its leading pharma services network to support customers in government, industry, and academia as they accelerate development and production of Covid-19 vaccines, therapies, and other treatments. The company is now supporting more than 200 of these projects globally.
Thermo Fisher Scientific is an American provisioner of scientific instrumentation, reagents and consumables, and software and services to healthcare, life science, and other laboratories in academia, government, and industry (including in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors). Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, Thermo Fisher was created in 2006 by the merger of Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific, to form a company. The company also has a presence in India for both service and support.
“Well before the pandemic, we were strategically investing in capacity and capabilities to increase manufacturing and supply chain flexibility for our customers, and this has enabled us to pivot also to support the Covid-19 response rapidly,” said Marc N. Casper, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific. “The company is well-positioned to take the lead in supporting the development of Covid-19 treatments and vaccines and delivering critical medicines to patients for treating cancer, genetic diseases, and other serious health conditions.”
To support accelerated vaccine development in the US, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the US Department of Health and Human Services, announced funding to support the expansion of Thermo Fisher’s manufacturing capacity for sterile injectables, which can be used to fill a high volume of vaccine doses. Thermo Fisher is also supporting multiple vaccine programs globally that are in or entering human clinical trials, providing critical capacity and expertise that has accelerated development and readiness by months.
The company has also expanded capacity for customers who are developing new and existing therapies, including promising anti-viral drugs, to meet increased demand and enable biopharma customers to compress timelines for delivery to patients significantly. For instance, through accelerated manufacturing of a common anti-inflammatory treatment to relieve Covid-19 symptoms, Thermo Fisher teams produced and distributed a year’s worth of medicine in just a few months, helping to meet a surge in hospital demand.
In addition to its work on Covid-19-related vaccines and therapies, the company continues to ensure that patients undergoing clinical trials continue to receive the critical medicines they need. A “site to patient” program, launched at the start of the pandemic, has ensured clinical trial patients have uninterrupted access to life-saving investigational drug shipments without having to visit a clinic maintain supply chain continuity during the pandemic.
