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* Have earmarked 200 mln doses of COVID-19 candidate vaccine
* COVAX alliance also has deals with AstraZeneca, Novavax
(Adds details, background, Paris dateline)
PARIS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - French drugmaker Sanofi
and Britain's GlaxoSmithKline will supply 200 million
doses of their COVID-19 candidate vaccine to a global
inoculation scheme backed by the World Health Organization.
There is no internationally-approved treatment against
COVID-19, which has killed more than 1.16 million people, and
the two companies' vaccine is still undergoing phase 1 and 2
trials, from which first results are expected by late November
or early December.
They said on Wednesday they had signed a statement of intent
with vaccine alliance GAVI, which is coordinating the global
scheme, known as COVAX.
COVAX, which aims to deliver 2 billion vaccine doses around
the world by the end of 2021, has already sealed agreements this
year with AstraZeneca and Novavax.
It aims to discourage national governments from hoarding
COVID-19 vaccines and to focus vaccinating the most high-risk
people first in every country.
More than 180 nations including China have joined the plan
but some, including the United States, have opted to stick with
their own supply deals.
Sanofi and GSK signed a $2.1 billion deal with Washington
during the summer to supply it with more than 100 million doses
of the same vaccine, which they hope to present for regulatory
approval next year.
The companies also have similar agreements with the European
Union, Britain and Canada.
Their candidate vaccine uses the same recombinant
protein-based technology as one of Sanofi's seasonal influenza
vaccines. It will be coupled with an adjuvant, a substance that
acts as a booster to the vaccine, made by GSK.
Sanofi is also working on another vaccine project with U.S.
company Translate Bio that will use a technology known
as messenger RNA (mRNA) which instructs cells in the body to
make coronavirus proteins that then produce an immune response.
Clinical trials for this project are expected to start in
the fourth quarter.
COVAX is co-led by GAVI, the WHO and the Coalition for
Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
(Reporting by Vishwadha Chander in Bengaluru, Matthias Blamont
in Paris; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and John Stonestreet)
