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PARIS, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Sanofi will fill and
pack millions of doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine from
July in an effort to help meet the huge demand for the U.S.
drugmaker's shots.
The French company will aim to help supply more than 100
million doses of the vaccine this year from its German plant in
Frankfurt, CEO Paul Hudson told Le Figaro newspaper on Tuesday.
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech are, like
other COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers such as AstraZeneca
, struggling to meet the huge demand for shots that are
the world's best bet for overcoming the pandemic.
Last month, Sanofi and Britain's GlaxoSmithKline
said a COVID-19 vaccine they are jointly developing had showed
an insufficient immune response in older people, delaying its
launch to late this year.
The company has been under pressure since to seek ways of
helping with COVID-19 vaccines devised by other drugmakers as
the pandemic intensifies again in Europe and
elsewhere.
"Since our main vaccine is a few months late, we asked
ourselves how we could be of assistance now," Hudson was quoted
as saying.
Sanofi is also working on another COVID-19 vaccine candidate
with U.S. firm Translate Bio which uses mRNA
technology, similar to the approach of Pfizer/BioNTech. Phase I
trials are expected to start this quarter.
Hudson confirmed in the interview that Sanofi remains
committed to its two vaccines projects.
(Reporting by Matthias Blamont; Editing by Mark Potter)