3M (NYSE:MMM) and Honeywell (NYSE:HON) are among 60 companies and trade groups sharing production, distribution and pricing information under FEMA-led efforts to secure supplies of products needed to combat COVID-19, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The information-trading project, taking place under the Defense Production Act, is protected from antitrust scrutiny.
3M and Honeywell are major suppliers of the N95 masks that health provider staff need to properly protect themselves from the novel coronavirus as they seek to save other people’s lives. The masks remain in short supply even as the government and the companies themselves invest hundreds of millions of dollars to boost production.