The European Commission has been working hard over the summer to implement its 17 June strategy to build up a pipeline of candidate vaccines against Covid-19 (see EUROPE 12508/4).
During the summer, it has in turn concluded preliminary discussions with Sanofi-GSK, Johnson&Johnson and Curevac. It has also entered into an advance purchase agreement with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. On Monday 24 August, it added another brick in the wall by announcing that it had finalised its exploratory contacts with the company Moderna.
It should also be recalled that the Commission agreed on 21 August to register a European Citizens’ Initiative entitled “Right to Vaccines and Treatments”, with a view to making vaccines and treatments a “global public good, freely available to all” (see other news).
Seven vaccine candidates in phase III
Currently, more than 165 vaccines are under development worldwide and 32 are being tested in humans.
According to a latest census, 7 candidate vaccines are in phase III clinical trials, the last phase before possible marketing. The first is the candidate developed jointly by Oxford University and the AstraZeneca laboratory.
This is followed by four Chinese projects, two of which are from the China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a unit of the state-owned pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm). Sinovac Biotech is developing the third candidate, called CoronaVac, while CanSino Biologics is working with the military research unit of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences on Ad5-nCoV.
Finally, the American company Moderna and the German-American alliance Pfizer-BioTech have also entered phase III. Note that Russia is also expected to launch tests this week on its product, Sputnik V.
EU secures access to several products
The creation of a vaccine is indeed seen as the most effective response to the Covid-19 pandemic, given that the natural immunity of the population (herd immunity) is far from being achieved.
In this context, the European Commission announced that it has concluded several exploratory discussions with the pharmaceutical industry, with the aim of reaching early purchasing agreements as foreseen in the 17 June strategy (see EUROPE 12508/4).
On 31 July, the company announced that it had finalised discussions with Sanofi-GSK to secure 300 million doses of their future vaccine, once its safety and efficacy have been proven.
On 13 August, it announced that it had concluded preliminary discussions with Johnson & Johnson, this time for 200 million doses, with an option to purchase an additional 200 million doses. On 20 August, it finalised discussions with the German company CureVac for the purchase of 225 million doses. And on 24 August, it announced the finalisation of discussions with the American firm Moderna, for 80 million doses.
But the most successful discussions were held with AstraZeneca, where an advance purchase agreement was concluded on 14 August. This covers 300 million doses, with an option to purchase an additional 100 million doses.
“The decision to support the vaccine proposed by AstraZeneca is based on the rigour of the scientific approach and technology used (ChAdOx1, a non-replicating, recombinant, adenoviral, chimpanzee vector vaccine), speed of large-scale delivery, cost, risk sharing, liability and production capacity to supply the whole EU, among others”, the European Commission highlighted in its press release. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)