Gaithersburg-based Emergent BioSolutions is officially leaving Baltimore after a tumultuous stretch that began when it was forced to ditch hundreds of millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine over questionable quality standards.
The company had already laid off hundreds of workers and shuttered the Bayview plant in East Baltimore where those bulk doses were produced. And Emergent said Thursday that it would sell its other major Baltimore plant, located in the Carroll-Camden industrial area, to an affiliate of Bora Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.
That plant was a “fill” center where it packaged drugs and therapeutics for market. Officials said all of Emergent’s 350 workers are expected to join Bora under the $30 million deal.
“The decision to sell our Camden manufacturing facility is aligned with our multi-year plan to create a customer focused, leaner and more flexible organization, while we improve overall profitability and raise capital to reduce our debt,” Joe Papa, Emergent’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
“We are working to ensure a smooth transition to Bora, especially for our Camden team and valued customers, over the coming weeks and months.”
The company has been laying off workers and fending off lawsuits from shareholders since its COVID-19 vaccine debacle years ago. The suits claimed the company inflated its stock price while hiding manufacturing problems.
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Emergent also faced an inquiry by the Congress’ Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis that showed its problems were deeper than initially disclosed. In all, about 525 million Emergent vaccine doses made had to be discarded, according to the congressional report.
The Biden administration had already canceled the federal contract, signed during the Trump administration, with Emergent to make the COVID vaccine, but the congressional panel said its finding confirmed the decision.
Federal inspectors found the company had insufficient processes and record keeping to ensure that vaccines were being made properly. Officials said at the time that the massive deals to make two kinds of vaccines at once, those developed by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, ended up being unrealistic.
Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine never caught on, and AstraZeneca’s was largely used overseas.
The company continues to employ workers elsewhere across the U.S., including in Maryland, and Canada, although other Emergent facilities have laid off hundreds of workers in recent years. That includes some 300 layoffs earlier this year when it said it would shutter the Bayview plant and another one based in Rockville. Last year, Emergent laid off about 230 workers in Maryland.
Emergent’s biggest product continues to be Narcan nasal spray, used to reverse opioid overdoses. It also has government contracts to produce smallpox and anthrax vaccines for the national stockpile.
The Camden deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024.
In May, the company reported first quarter income of $9 million on about $300.4 million in revenue.
The company’s stock price, which peaked at $133 a share in 2020, was at about $6.38 in morning trading.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the number of Emergent’s layoffs from earlier this year.
