(Adds AstraZeneca reaction)
BRUSSELS, Nov 24 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca must provide
reassurance that it will not profit from its potential COVID-19
vaccine, non-governmental organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres
(MSF) said on Tuesday, urging the company to make public its
supply contracts.
The British firm said on Monday its COVID-19 vaccine was 70%
effective in pivotal trials and could be up to 90% effective,
giving the world's fight against the global pandemic a third new
weapon that can be cheaper to make, easier to distribute and
faster to scale-up than rivals.
AstraZeneca has said it will not profit from sales
of its vaccine while COVID-19 is considered a pandemic. The
price of its candidate has been set at about $3 per dose,
against at least four times more for other candidates.
"MSF welcomes AstraZeneca's commitment to sell the vaccine
at a 'no-profit' price during the pandemic, but the reality is
that it's an empty promise unless we're able to substantiate
these important claims with data," said Roz Scourse of medical
group MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders.
The organisation urged AstraZeneca to disclose the contracts
signed with governments for its vaccine, and said there could be
clauses that limit the price until the company declares the end
of the health emergency, which could be as early as July.
AstraZeneca said it would look for international consensus
on when the pandemic phase of COVID-19 was over, rather than a
particular date.
"From the outset, AstraZeneca's approach has been to treat
the development of the vaccine as a response to a global public
health emergency, not a commercial opportunity," an AstraZeneca
spokesman said.
"We continue to operate in that public spirit and we will
seek expert guidance, including from global organisations as to
when we can say the pandemic is behind us."
The GAVI vaccine alliance said Monday's efficacy data was
"positive news for the COVAX vision of equitable access" for
vulnerable groups.
It said the hundreds of millions of doses had been secured
on behalf of COVAX, a procurement scheme co-led by the World
Health Organization designed to secure rapid and fair global
access to COVID-19 vaccines.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; additional
reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Mark Potter and Barbara
Lewis)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
