Last checked at 
* AstraZeneca asked for further clarification
* EU paid 336 mln euros to boost Astra's production capacity
* Astra was obliged to start production in Oct. - lawmaker
(adds EU spokesman, official, lawmaker)
By Francesco Guarascio and Sabine Siebold
BRUSSELS, Jan 25 (Reuters) - The European Union will meet
AstraZeneca executives on Monday to seek further
clarification on why they unexpectedly announced a large cut in
supplies of COVID-19 vaccine to the bloc for the first quarter
of the year, EU officials said.
AstraZeneca, which developed its shot with Oxford
University, told the EU on Friday that it could not meet the
agreed supply targets running up to the end of March, with an EU
official telling Reuters that meant a 60% cut to 31 million
doses.
"We expect the company to find solutions and to exploit all
possible flexiblities to deliver swiftly," an EU Commission
spokesman said, adding the head of the EU executive Ursula von
der Leyen had a call earlier on Monday with AstraZeneca's chief
Pascal Soriot to remind him of the firm's commitments.
A second senior EU official said the bloc had a contractual
right to check the company's books to assess production and
deliveries.
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker has received an up-front payment
of 336 million euros ($409 million) from the EU, a third EU
official told Reuters when the 27-nation bloc sealed a supply
deal with AstraZeneca in August for at least 300 million doses -
the first signed by the EU to secure COVID-19 shots.
.
Under advance purchase deals sealed during the pandemic, the
EU makes down payments to companies to secure doses, with the
money expected to be mostly used to expand production capacity.
"Initial volumes will be lower than originally anticipated
due to reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our
European supply chain," AstraZeneca said on Friday. The site in
question is a vaccine factory in Belgium run by the drugmaker's
partner Novasep.
"The flimsy justification that there are difficulties in the
EU supply chain but not elsewhere does not hold water, as it is
of course no problem to get the vaccine from the UK to the
continent," said EU lawmaker Peter Liese, who is from the same
party as German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The EU Commission called a meeting with AstraZeneca after
Friday's announcement, and it is due to start at 1230 CET.
AstraZeneca was not immediately available to comment on
Monday.
The first EU official, who has been directly involved in
talks with AstraZeneca, said there were no high expectations
about the meeting in which the company will be asked to better
explain the delays, although its outcome is still unclear.
Earlier in January, Pfizer, which is currently the
largest supplier of COVID-19 vaccines to the EU, announced
delays of nearly a month to its shipments, but hours later
revised this to say the delays would last only a week.
EU contracts with vaccine makers are confidential, but the
EU official did not rule out possible penalties for AstraZeneca,
given the large revision to its earlier commitments. However the
source did not elaborate on what could trigger the penalties.
"We are not there yet," the official added.
"AstraZeneca has been contractually obligated to produce
since as early as October and they are apparently delivering to
other parts of the world, including the UK without delay," Liese
said.
AstraZeneca's vaccine is expected to be approved for use in
the EU on Jan. 29, with first deliveries expected from Feb. 15.
($1 = 0.8214 euros)
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; additional
reporting by Sabine Siebold and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt;
Editing by Pravin Char, Kirsten Donovan)
