LONDON (Reuters) – Britain is close to a supply agreement of 500 million pounds ($ 624 million) with Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline for 60 million doses of a possible COVID-19 vaccine, the Sunday Times reported.
FILE PHOTO: A small bottle labeled with a “Vaccine” label stands near a medical syringe in front of the words “Coronavirus COVID-19” in this illustration taken on April 10, 2020. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic /
Clinical trials will begin in September, and Sanofi has said it hopes to get approval by the first half of next year, sooner than anticipated.
More than 100 vaccines are being developed and tested worldwide to stop the COVID-19 pandemic, and governments are competing to ensure the supply of vaccines even before their efficacy is proven.
A supply deal with Sanofi and GSK would be the second such deal in Britain, after he said he would buy 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Sanofi was not immediately available for comment, while a GSK spokesman declined to comment. Both have said they are prioritizing quality over speed in developing a vaccine.
“The Government Vaccine Task Force is actively engaging with a wide range of companies, both in the UK and abroad, to negotiate access to vaccines,” said a spokeswoman for the British Ministry of Business, without confirming whether Sanofi or GSK were among them.
The Sunday Times report said Britain was considering taking an option to buy the vaccine if it works in human trials, and would see the amount paid in stages.
Sanofi is working on two potential COVID-19 vaccines, one of which uses an adjuvant made by GSK to potentially increase its effectiveness, and has said it has the capacity to produce up to a billion doses a year.
Its schedule for clinical trials is behind the likes of Moderna Inc, the University of Oxford in collaboration with AstraZeneca Plc, and an alliance of BioNTech and Pfizer Inc, whose projects grabbed the headlines by moving to human trials in early March.
Sanofi received financial backing from the United States and caused a stir at its base of operations in France after its British CEO Paul Hudson noted that Europe was taking too long to support work on a vaccine, hinting that American patients could receive any vaccine. you develop first.
The EU is also seeking a deal with Sanofi, and has invited Britain to join its efforts to buy vaccines for the bloc.
Alistair Smout reports in London, additional reports by Josephine Mason in London and Michel Rose and Caroline Pailliez in Paris; Elaine Hardcastle and Alexander Smith Edition
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