The French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi will not distribute any vaccine against Covid-19 in the United States if the European Union shows itself “As effective” to finance its development, said its French official on Thursday. This is what the president of Sanofi France, Olivier Bogillot, said on the channel BFMTV.
Sanofi had warned the day before, through its director general Paul Hudson, that he would distribute in priority to the United States a possible vaccine, because the American authorities have invested financially to support the research of the pharmaceutical giant.
He said the advance could be a few days or weeks. Such a possibility was judged on Thursday “Unacceptable” by the Secretary of State for the Economy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, who said he immediately contacted Sanofi.
Treatment “accessible to all”
Asked repeatedly about a gap between the United States and the European Union (EU) in the distribution of a vaccine, the boss of Sanofi in France refrained from a clear denial, nevertheless ensuring that such treatment would be in fine ” accessible to everyone “.
“The goal is for the vaccine to be available both in the US, France and Europe in the same way”, he assured. But, in reality, it will be possible “If Europeans work as fast as Americans”, said Olivier Bogillot.
Gold, “The US government mobilized itself very early on financially”, he said, noting that the US had already planned to pay “Several hundred million euros”.
In contrast, “We are in talks with the European authorities […] and some EU states like France and Germany to speed things up “he continued, noting that it was also about facilitating regulatory procedures.
Regarding the research itself, Olivier Bogillot confirmed that the objective remained the development of a usable vaccine within 18 to 24 months, stressing that such a calendar is extremely accelerated compared to normal, which revolves around ‘ten years.
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