Sanofi/Glaxo to Supply 300M Coronavirus Vaccine Doses in EU
Sanofi SNY and GlaxoSmithKline GSK announced a confirmed agreement with the European Union to supply up to 300 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine that the companies are developing together, if approved.
Sanofi’s recombinant protein-based technology is being combined with Glaxo’s pandemic adjuvant technology to develop an adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine. In July, the companies had announced that they are in advanced talks with the European Union for the advanced purchase agreement.
The antigen and final vaccine doses will be manufactured at the companies’ manufacturing facilities in the European countries of Belgium, Italy, Germany and France. The EU will provide funding support for the same.
Earlier this month, Sanofi and Glaxo initiated a phase I/II clinical study on their COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which will enroll 440 healthy adult participants. Data from the pre-clinical studies showed promising safety and immunogenicity of the candidate.
Data from the phase I/II study are expected in December. If this data is positive, then the companies plan to start a phase III study by the end of year and file for regulatory approval in the first half of 2021. The companies plan to produce 1 billion doses of the adjuvant vaccine in 2021.
Glaxo and Sanofi already have an advanced purchase agreement for 100 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine with the U.S. government, which will provide funding of $2.1 billion for the development and manufacturing of the initial 100 million doses. The U.S. government also has an option to purchase an additional 500 million doses.
They also have an agreement with the U.K. government to supply up to 60 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
So far this year, Glaxo’s shares have declined 16.4% while Sanofi’s shares rose 4.5%. The industry has risen 1.8% in the said time frame.
Both Sanofi and Glaxo are making rigorous effort to make treatments/vaccines for treating COVID-19.
Sanofi has a separate a collaboration with Translate Bio TBIO to jointly develop a novel messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine for COVID-19. A phase I/II study is expected to start in November.
Similar to the deal with Sanofi, Glaxo has also formed several similar collaborations to make its pandemic adjuvant technology available to partners who are making adjuvanted COVID -19 vaccine candidates. The pandemic adjuvant can reduce the amount of vaccine protein required per dose, which, in turn, will allow more vaccine doses to be produced. It can also increase the immune response of the vaccines, thereby providing better immunity.
Glaxo also has a collaboration agreement with Vir Biotechnology VIR to develop antibody treatments for COVID-19. Last month, a phase II/III study was initiated on their monoclonal antibody, VIR-7831 to prevent hospitalization due to COVID-19.
Both Sanofi and Glaxo currently have a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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