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(Alliance News) - Sanofi SA on Wednesday said it and GlaxoSmithKline PLC have reached an agreement, subject to final contract, with the UK government for the supply of up to 60 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.
The vaccine candidate - developed by Paris-based pharmaceutical company Sanofi in partnership with Brentford, England-based drugmaker GSK - is based on the recombinant protein-based technology used by Sanofi to produce an influenza vaccine, and GSK's pandemic adjuvant technology.
Roger Connor, president of GSK Vaccines, said: "We believe that this adjuvanted vaccine candidate has the potential to play a significant role in overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic, both in the UK and around the world."
Sanofi said it is leading the clinical development and registration of the Covid-19 vaccine and expects a phase 1/2 study to start in September, followed by a phase 3 study by the end of 2020.
If the data are positive, regulatory approval could be achieved by the first half of 2021.
Kate Bingham, chair of the UK government's Vaccines Taskforce, said: "Through this agreement with GSK and Sanofi, the Vaccine Taskforce can add another type of vaccine to the three different types of vaccine we have already secured.
"This diversity of vaccine types is important because we do not yet know which, if any, of the different types of vaccine will prove to generate a safe and protective response to Covid-19."
In parallel, Sanofi said it and GSK are scaling up manufacturing of the antigen and adjuvant to produce up to one billion doses per year overall.
Going forward, Sanofi said discussions on supply of the vaccine are ongoing with global organizations, the US and the EU Commission, with France and Italy on the negotiation team.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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