UPDATE 2-EU seals deal with Novavax for up to 200 million COVID-19 vaccines

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By Francesco Guarascio

BRUSSELS, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The European Commission has
approved a supply contract with U.S. firm Novavax to
buy up to 200 million doses of its potential COVID-19 vaccine,
the Commission said on Wednesday.

The move is part of the EU's strategy to diversify its
vaccine portfolio after the bloc betted heavily for the coming
years on messenger RNA (mRNA) shots produced by Pfizer-BioNTech
and Moderna.

"Our new agreement with Novavax expands our vaccine
portfolio to include one more protein-based vaccine, a platform
showing promise in clinical trials," EU health commissioner
Stella Kyriakides said in a statement.

French drugmaker Sanofi, in partnership with
British firm GlaxoSmithKline, is also trying to produce
a protein-based COVID-19 vaccine and has already signed a supply
deal with the EU. But their trials suffered a setback in
December, delaying development.

Under the contract, EU states will be able to buy up to 100
million doses of the Novavax vaccine, with an option for 100
million additional doses until 2023, once the shot has been
approved by the EU drugs regulator which is currently reviewing
it, the Commission said.

Novavax reached a preliminary deal with the bloc in
December, but a final agreement was delayed for months because
the U.S. company faced productions problems.

The deal would allow EU states to receive the first Novavax
doses from the last quarter of this year, the Commission said,
confirming a Reuters report from May

Novavax confirmed the deal in a statement and said it was
working to complete the submission of vaccine data to the EU
drugs regulator in the third quarter of this year, with delivery
of initial doses expected to begin after approval.
"As new coronavirus variants are spreading in Europe and
around the world, this new contract with a company that is
already testing its vaccine successfully against these variants
is an additional safeguard for the protection of our
population," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
said.

The EU has reserved a total of 2.4 billion doses of the
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in three different contracts, and has
also bought 460 million Moderna shots, clear signs of its
preference for mRNA jabs.

It has also booked 405 million doses of the mRNA vaccine
developed by CureVac, although the vaccine has so far
shown limited efficacy in tests and has not yet been approved by
regulators.

The bloc also has supply deals with AstraZeneca and
Johnson & Johnson which both produce viral vector
vaccines against COVID-19, but the EU has reduced its reliance
on these shots after health concerns and supply problems.

Novavax is the seventh company with which the EU has signed
a supply deal for COVID-19 vaccines.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; Editing by
Alison Williams and Nick Macfie)