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EU in talks to secure Sanofi deal for coronavirus vaccine

The Commission said the aim of the talks with Sanofi was to clinch an advance purchase deal.

August 01, 2020 / 11:54 AM IST
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Representative image

Sanofi SA and GlaxoSmithKline Plc on Friday said they are in advanced discussions to supply up to 300 million doses of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine for the 27-country European Union.

Armed with an emergency fund of more than 2 billion euros (£1.80 billion), the European Commission wants to strike deals with up to six drugmakers for their vaccines for their 450 million citizens against the coronavirus that has killed 674,000 people worldwide.

The Commission said the aim of the talks with Sanofi was to clinch an advance purchase deal.

"The envisaged contract with Sanofi would provide for an option for all EU Member States to purchase the vaccine," the Commission said in a statement.

"It is envisaged that, once a vaccine has proven to be safe and effective against COVID-19, the Commission would have a contractual framework in place for the purchase of 300 million doses, on behalf of all EU member states."

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

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How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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A Commission spokesman said he could not comment on when a deal would be announced and the possible price for the vaccine, calling it a quite promising step towards an eventual agreement.

Sanofi is working on two vaccine projects including one in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline.

The companies said the doses would be manufactured in European countries including France, Belgium, Germany and Italy.

Sanofi is leading the clinical development of the vaccine and expects to start a trial by the end of this year.

Earlier this week, EU talks with Sanofi, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson hit an impasse over price, payment method and potential liability costs, EU officials told Reuters.

Other pharmaceutical companies talking to the EU include France's Valneva, Moderna and biotech firms BioNTech and Germany's CureVac.

Reuters
first published: Aug 1, 2020 11:28 am

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