The European Union and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which makes one of the COVID-19 vaccines, announced on Friday an agreement to end a damaging legal battle over the slowness with which the Anglo-Swedish firm delivered the drug to the bloc.
The European Commission said AstraZeneca made a “firm commitment” to deliver a total of 300 million doses by March next year, as reflected in the advance purchase agreement signed by the two parties a year ago. At the moment, around 100 million doses have already been delivered.
The deal means the vaccine maker will provide 135 million doses by the end of this year in addition to an additional 65 million in the first quarter of 2022. The 27 EU member states will receive “regular deliveries” and discounts if they are delayed.
AstraZeneca was considered a key pillar of the community vaccination campaign, and the legal dispute over delivery obligations tarnished its image after its vaccines were linked to a series of unusual clotting problems. The Commission insists that there is no problem with the quality of the drug developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford.
AstraZeneca is also a mainstay in the global strategy to bring vaccines to the poorest countries. It is cheaper and easier to use than those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna and has been licensed for use in more than 50 countries. The US regulator continues to evaluate it.
In June, a Belgian court ruled that AstraZeneca had committed a “serious breach” of its contract with the EU. The pharmaceutical company then said that the ruling showed that it “fully complied with its agreement” with the European Commission.
AstraZeneca’s Executive Vice President of Biopharmaceutical Business Unit Ruud Dobber said in a statement on Friday that he was “very pleased to have been able to reach a common agreement that allows us to move forward and work in collaboration with the European Commission to help overcome the pandemic”.
AstraZeneca said that, together with its partners, it has distributed more than 1.1 billion doses of its vaccine in more than 170 countries, with approximately two-thirds going to low- and middle-income countries.
–
