(Alliance News) -Â AstraZeneca PLC on Friday welcomed a Brussels court decision over its vaccine supply pact with the EU.
The EU was looking to sue the London-listed pharmaceutical group in a bid to force it to deliver 90 million more doses of its Covid-19 vaccine before July. Astra delivered only 30 million doses in the first quarter out of the 120 million it was contracted to supply.
The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical firm on Friday said the European Commission had requested 120 million vaccine doses cumulatively by the end of this month, and a total of 300 million by the end of September.
The judge at the Court of First Instance in Brussels, however, has ordered delivery of just 80.2 million doses by September 27 - a figure Astra expects to "substantially exceed" by the end of June given it has already supplied more than 70 million doses to the EU.
"All other measures sought by the European Commission have been dismissed, and in particular the court found that the European Commission has no exclusivity or right of priority over all other contracting parties," the firm said.
"The judgement also acknowledged that the difficulties experienced by AstraZeneca in this unprecedented situation had a substantial impact on the delay."
Astra said it now looks forward to "renewed collaboration" with the EC.
Jeffrey Pott, general counsel, said: "We are pleased with the court's order. AstraZeneca has fully complied with its agreement with the European Commission and we will continue to focus on the urgent task of supplying an effective vaccine, which we are delivering at no profit to help protect people in Europe and around the world from the deadliest pandemic in a generation."
Recent data has shown Astra's Covid-19 vaccine offers good protection against the Delta variant. Real world data from Public Health England, published as a pre-print, showed two doses of Astra's jab were 92% effective against hospitalisation from the Delta variant and showed no deaths among those vaccinated.
Shares in Astra were trading flat at 8,381.00 pence in London on Friday afternoon.
By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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