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Sanofi and GSK laboratories have announced an agreement with the British government to provide 60 million vaccines against Covid-19.
French laboratories Sanofi and British GSK announced on Wednesday that they had reached an agreement with the British government to provide 60 million doses of their vaccine against Covid-19, “subject to the signing of a definitive contract”.
The two groups, which assure that their vaccine could be authorized from the first half of 2021, specify in a press release that “active discussions are underway with the European Commission, with France and Italy in the negotiating team, and other governments to ensure global access ”to their product.
“There is no guarantee” of one day finding a vaccine against the new coronavirus, noted the British Minister for Business Alok Sharma, quoted in the press release. “However, it is important that we gain rapid access to a wide range of promising vaccine candidates. “
UK has secured 250 million doses
This is the fourth such agreement for the United Kingdom, after those with AstraZeneca, Valneva and the one with BioNTech / Pfizer. The country has thus secured a total of 250 million doses.
Sanofi and GSK plan to “start a phase 1/2 study in September, followed by a phase 3 study by the end of 2020”.
Elsewhere in the world, other vaccine candidates are at more advanced stages, but only four formulations are in “phase 3”, where efficacy is measured on a large scale.
While the pandemic is far from being under control, governments around the world have embarked on a frantic race to guarantee vaccine stocks, with enormous financial stakes and a number of political tensions.
The US government has thus placed an initial order for “100 million doses for 1.95 billion dollars and could acquire up to 500 million additional doses” of the product developed by the German biotech Biontech and the American laboratory Pfizer.
Sanofi had also caused controversy by evoking in May the prospect of reserving for the United States the first of a possible vaccine against Covid-19.
Via The Telegram
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