EU and Novavax reach agreement for up to 200 million COVID-19 vaccines Reuters

Francesco Guaracio

Brussels (Reuters)-The European Commission has approved a supply contract with a US company Novax The committee said on Wednesday that it would purchase up to 200 million doses of potential COVID-19 vaccine (NASDAQ:).

This move is that the EU will bet heavily on Pfizer-BioNTech and Modern (Nasdaq:).

EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said in a statement: “Our new agreement with Novavax expands our vaccine portfolio to include another protein-based vaccine, which is a platform that shows promise in clinical trials.”

French drugmaker Sanofi (NASDAQ:) In cooperation with the British company GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:), it is also trying to produce a protein-based COVID-19 vaccine and has signed a supply agreement with the European Union. But their trials suffered setbacks in December, delaying development.

According to the contract, EU countries will be able to purchase up to 100 million doses of Novavax vaccine, with the option to purchase an additional 100 million doses before 2023, once the vaccine is approved by the EU drug regulatory agency currently under review, the committee said.

Novavax reached a preliminary agreement with the European Union in December, but the final agreement was delayed for several months because the American company faced production problems.

The European Commission stated that the agreement will allow EU countries to receive the first dose of Novavax starting in the last quarter of this year, confirming a Reuters report in May.

Novavax confirmed the transaction in a statement and stated that it is working hard to complete the submission of vaccine data to the EU drug regulatory agency in the third quarter of this year, and is expected to start delivering the initial dose after approval.

European Commission President Ursula von der Lein said: “As new coronavirus variants spread in Europe and around the world, a new contract with a company that has successfully tested vaccines against these variants is an additional way to protect our population. Assure.” .

The EU retained a total of 2.4 billion doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in three different contracts, and also purchased 460 million doses of Moderna vaccine, which clearly shows its preference for mRNA vaccines.

It has also ordered 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 regulatory agencies.

The group has also reached a supply agreement with AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:), both of which produce viral vector vaccines against COVID-19, but due to With health issues and supply issues, the EU has reduced its reliance on these vaccines.

Novavax is the seventh company between the European Union and the European Union to sign a COVID-19 vaccine supply agreement.