* Mass rollout would be challenging, GSK chief Walmsley says
* She says immunisation development speed does not reduce
safety
(Adds remarks on vaccine safety)
By Ludwig Burger
FRANKFURT, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The chief executive of
GlaxoSmithKline, the world's largest maker of vaccines,
said she was optimistic the industry will be able to make an
immunisation against COVID-19 widely available next year.
"I share the optimism that we will have solutions next year.
The challenge here is getting to the scale that is required,"
GSK CEO Emma Walmsley said at an online event of the
Confederation of British Industry (CBI) on Tuesday.
GSK is contributing adjuvants, efficacy boosters that play a
vital role in many vaccines, in several development alliances
for potential future vaccines against the novel coronavirus that
has claimed more than a million lives globally.
The group's most advanced project is with French partner
Sanofi and the two have said they hope to get approval
for their candidate next year.
Walmsley stressed the industry's unprecedented speed of
developing an immunisation did not compromise safety because
trials were not smaller than usual and regulators and companies
were taking steps in parallel that were previously done
consecutively.
"We are condensing timelines that can take 10 years into two
years. But people should feel very reassured that the way we do
that is (due to) a completely different level of collaboration
with regulators," the CEO said.
"We are putting our funds at risk, governments have put
funds at risk so that we don’t restrict the scale, which is
really important in a trial for vaccines," she added.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, Editing by Franklin Paul and Grant
McCool)
Glaxosmithkline (GSK)