AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical giant, has entered into an agreement with Europe's Inclusive Vaccines Alliance to provide up to 400 million doses of an experimental coronavirus drug, as efforts to improve manufacturing capacity progress.
The alliance, which was established to fast-track the development of a vaccine between Italy, Germany, France, and the Netherlands, is expected to take delivery of the material being tested by the University of Oxford by end of the year.
According to AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot in a briefing with the press, and as reported by Reuters, the deal will ensure that hundreds of millions of people in Europe "will have access to the vaccine." Soriot added he has "good hope" that the vaccine will work, based on preliminary data.
The alliance will collaborate with the European Commission and other nations in Europe to make sure everybody across the region will be provided with the vaccine, Soriot disclosed.
The biotech group has made similar deals for 700 million doses with the UK, the US, the Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. It has also agreed to a license with India's Serum Institute to supply a billion doses, primarily for low- and middle-income countries.
The vaccine was developed by Jenner Institute at Oxford University working together with the Oxford Vaccine Project. Last month, the university announced the initiation of a vaccine trial of around 10,000 adult volunteers. Many late-stage trials in a variety of countries are expected to begin.
Testing of the experimental COVID-19 vaccine started with more than a thousand subjects, aged 18 to 55, all healthy volunteers in Britain in April.
Other companies, including Moderna and Sanofi, are racing to develop and produce a new coronavirus vaccine, a step experts say will be crucial to allow countries to ease their lockdowns and public life restrictions.
The vaccines are intended for all EU member countries. The four nations that agreed to the deal would pay for the total sum that was not revealed, and the arrangement would allow other countries to join it under the same terms, said a source from the Italian Ministry of Health.
China, Russia, Brazil, and Japan expressed interest, as well, Soriot said. The British Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has approved the commencement of the vaccine's Phase III trials after studies showed adequate efficacy and safety, he stated.
According to health experts and scientists, there are no approved treatments or vaccines for COVID-19, the highly-contagious respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus.
