Johnson all praise for Wockhardt’s ‘hard work’

BRITISH prime minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday (19) singled out Mumbai-headquartered pharmaceutical and biotech company Wockhardt for praise among companies behind the country’s successful Covid-19 vaccine rollout.

During his speech at the Global Investment Summit at London Science Museum, Johnson said Wockhardt’s Wales-based bottling plant was instrumental in ensuring the vaccination programme was a success.

“When you look at the lightning speed of the vaccine rollout there were all sorts of things that made it possible… in Wales, I’m proud to say, we had the bottling plant that made it all possible,” Johnson told an audience of leading global business chiefs and entrepreneurs.

“Wockhardt, an Indian company, from Mumbai, whose family motto was work hard. Hence wock hardt. And it was the hard wock of those companies, of Wockhardt and their staff, that made it possible,” he said.

The UK government last year struck a deal with the Wockhardt plant, based in Wrexham in North Wales, for its fill-and-finish line to bottle millions of coronavirus vaccine doses.

The Mumbai-headquartered company has been among the largest suppliers to the NHS and its unit in Wrexham employs hundreds of people at a high-tech manufacturing facility.

The Global Investment Summit in London attracted leading investors to showcase British innovation and promote the UK as the best investment destination in the world.