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BRUSSELS, Nov 24 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca must prove its
claim that its potential COVID-19 vaccine has the lowest price
of the main candidates so far, non-governmental organisation
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Tuesday, urging the
company to make public its supply contracts.
The British firm said on Monday its COVID-19 vaccine was 70%
effective in pivotal trials and could be up to 90% effective,
giving the world's fight against the global pandemic a third new
weapon that can be cheaper to make, easier to distribute and
faster to scale-up than rivals.
AstraZeneca has said it will not profit from sales
of its vaccine, the price of which has been set at about $3 per
dose, against at least four times more for other candidates.
"MSF welcomes AstraZeneca's commitment to sell the vaccine
at a 'no-profit' price during the pandemic, but the reality is
that it's an empty promise unless we're able to substantiate
these important claims with data," said Roz Scourse of medical
group MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders.
The organisation urged AstraZeneca to disclose the contracts
signed with governments for its vaccine, under which there could
be clauses that limit the price until the company declares the
end of the health emergency, which could be as early as July,
according to media reports cited by MSF.
"This means that, after July 2021, AstraZeneca could charge
governments and other purchasers high prices for a vaccine that
was entirely funded by the public," the organisation said,
adding the company had received over $1 billion of public
funding for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
AstraZeneca had no immediate comment on the matter.
The company has said a COVID-19 vaccine needs to be
available globally and accessible to all who need it, and has
expressed its support for a procurement scheme co-led by the
World Health Organization designed to secure rapid and fair
global access to COVID-19 vaccines.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; additional
reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Mark Potter)
