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PHOTOSanofi and GSK began the phase 1/2 clinical trial for their COVID-19 vaccine today. A total of 440 healthy adults participated in 11 test sites in the United States. The goal announced by the companies is to produce up to one billion doses in 2021. At the forefront will be the Anagni plant, which will be the first in Europe to start production of the vaccine. The companies commit to provide the first results in early December 2020, for a simultaneous start of the phase 3 trial. The candidate vaccine, jointly developed by Sanofi and GSK, is a subunit-based recombinant DNA vaccine based on a technology already used for the production of the recombinant quadrivalent influenza vaccine that will make it possible to produce a significantly higher number of doses. Italy is at the forefront of the production of this new vaccine against Covid-19 with its Anagni plant. The Italian center, along with France and Germany, will be one of four involved in the production and implementation of the vaccine doses. The Lazio plant is one of the four Sanofi plants in Italy and was founded in 1973: with an area of 450 thousand square meters, it represents the largest plant for sterile freeze-dried products of the Sanofi Group in the world and is a center of excellence at European level for the production of sterile injectable pharmaceutical products. The Anagni plant will be the first in Europe to distribute the vaccine. “The official start of the clinical trial marks another important point linked to the global battle against the Covid19 pandemic. An advance that necessarily passes through teamwork and the grafting of joint transversal skills. On the other hand, the new challenges related to health prevention go through alliances between all the actors in the supply chain ”, says Mario Merlo, General Manager of Sanofi Pasteur.
Meanwhile, the European Commission accelerates on the anti-Covid vaccine, with the first availability for member countries scheduled for November, and on universal access to the drug. According to Commission officials Ansa, the first availability of the vaccine known as Oxford is expected in November, on which the Commission has signed a contract that allows member countries to buy 300 million doses with an option for another 100.
In addition, after the guarantee of 400 million euros in support of research for the Covax association, next week the EU Executive and the WHO should launch a new mobilization of resources in favor of the WHO Accelerating Law, created to equal access to the vaccine.
Meanwhile, negotiations with pharmaceutical companies continue, with the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine talks well advanced and in the final stages. An agreement with the American multinational and German biotechnology would establish a diversified group of six candidate vaccines from the companies that are leading the vaccine trial (AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, CureVac, Moderna and Pfizer) for purchase by Member countries of the EU, but also for donations to lower-middle-income countries or redirection to other European countries.
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