- Public health officials warn that
when a coronavirus vaccine is ready,
the next hurdle is howto get that vaccine out
to the public quicklyand in massive numbers.
Joining me now is Jay Walker.
He's the CEO of ApiJect,a company that entered
into a $138 million dealwith the Trump administration
called Project Jumpstart.
Welcome, Mr. Walker.
- Glad to be here, Lorie.
- So, what is Project Jumpstart?
- Well, Project Jumpstart is an emergency
and temporary program inthe battle against COVID-19.
It's a public, private partnership
between my companyApiJect Systems of America
and the Department ofHealth and Human Services
and the Department of Defense.
And its purpose is toensure that by year end
we'll have at least 100million doses ready to inject
of a vaccine or therapeutic,assuming one is available.
- And now you are going to be making these
pre-filled syringes for the vaccines.
What's the problem with glass vial systems
of manufacturing and delivering vaccines?
- Well, there's noproblem with glass vials,
they work wonderfully,except when you need hundreds
of millions of them all at once.
The supply chain for glassvials requires not only
that you have all of thosevials and all the materials
that go with it, but itrequires that you have
extremely specialized filling equipment
to fill all those vials.
All of that equipment is currently busy.
It works on cancer drugsand other life-saving drugs.
There is no excess capacityto fill 100 million,
150 million or more with a new vaccine.
Therefore, the U.S.Government has stepped out
and said we'll need to use another way
to make sure that thatvaccine can be delivered
to people who want it.
- So how exactly does ApiJect work?
- Well, if you've ever usedan eye dropper in your eye,
take a little squeeze bottle,
that technology is called blow-fill-seal,
and that is exactly thesame technology we're using.
There are eye dropperfacilities in the U.S.,
not many, but a few, thatwe are going to upgrade
so they can handle vaccines.
Then what will happen is those facilities
will make the containers, right here,
that will hold the vaccine.
We will add a needlehug to them, and voila,
you have a pre-filledsyringe that's ready to use.
- So where will they be manufactured,
and what is significant aboutthat now and going forward?
- Well, we haven't announced yet which
of the facilities in the U.S.will receive the upgrades.
We're in discussions with all of the major
U.S. manufacturers, but there are not many
that do this on U.S. soil.
What's going to happenis we'll chose one or two
of those facilities in the next few weeks
and then we will beginto install all kinds
of upgraded equipment that willall be approved by the FDA.
Eventually what we're gonnado, starting next year,
is build entire newfactories capable of doing
up to 330 million doses every month
so that the entire U.S.population can be filled
and finished from this brand new factories
that we're building on U.S. soil.
- How does the optional RFID chip work?
- Well, each of thesedevices that are injectors
have the capacity toalso have a small chip.
What that chip does is ithas the unique serial number
for each dose.
It is designed so thatthere is no counterfeiting.
It's designed so that we'll know exactly
that the right dose hasn't expired.
However, that chip onlyrefers to the dose.
There's no personal information,no patient information.
It's simply like a bar code,only we know instantaneously
where and when that dose has been used.
That also helps publichealth officials know
when there are outbreaks,have we vaccinated
enough people in those areas.
That technology ispurely optional, however,
and the U.S. Governmenthasn't even decided
if they're going to use it.
- How quickly can youmanufacture the vaccines,
and what's your long-term goal?
- Well, we don't make vaccines, Lorie.
Drug companies make the vaccines.
They then ship them tous for the packaging.
So our long-term goal is to make sure that
no matter what vaccinewins or what vaccines,
and what therapeutics are available,
America can fill and finishin these pre-filled syringes
as many of the drugs aswe need for U.S. citizens
and eventually to haveexcess to export worldwide.
Our goal is to make surethat on American soil
we have everything weneed to protect America.
- When do you think youmight start filling these
with the vaccine?
- Well, the president has said that
that vaccine will be ready this year.
So if that vaccine shows up at our door,
we're gonna be ready tofill it as soon as it does.
- Well, it's a fascinating new technology.
We'll definitely be keeping an eye on it.
Jay Walker, CEO of ApiJect.
Thanks for being here,good to see you, sir.
- Thank you for having me, Lorie.
