AstraZeneca PLC said it has received more than US$1 billion in US government funding to develop a COVID-19 vaccine with Oxford University, adding that it has supply agreements for 400 million doses.
The UK drugmaker, which received the money from the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), said that it has secured capacity to make 1 billion doses.
The company’s vaccine candidate is still in human trials, with no guarantee of success.
The investment accelerates a race to secure vaccine supplies, seen as a key step toward getting global economies moving again after a lockdown-induced slump.
Stock markets have been rising and falling on developments in research labs, as investors weigh the prospects for a successful shot.
Drugmakers around the world are looking for manufacturing capacity to increase output.
The Oxford vaccine is one of the world’s fastest-moving and AstraZeneca has said that it expects to have doses ready by as soon as September.
BARDA has also provided funding for French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi SA, including US$30 million for its COVID-19 vaccine and a US$226 million award in December last year to increase production capacity for its pandemic influenza vaccine.
Although Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson told Bloomberg News in an interview last week that a company vaccine would probably go to the US first, the company later said that it would make the shot available everywhere.
While the absence of a European counterpart to BARDA has slowed efforts to secure supplies, Hudson said that Sanofi is in talks with several governments on possible arrangements.
Supplying the UK with a vaccine would be a priority for AstraZeneca, CEO Pascal Soriot has said, with the company planning to make as many as 30 million doses available in Britain by September and committed to delivering 100 million this year.
AstraZeneca said that it is working with groups, including the WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, to ensure that a vaccine is allocated fairly.
It aims to “ensure broad and equitable supply of the vaccine throughout the world at no profit during the pandemic,” the Cambridge, England-based company said in a statement.
The US funding would support a final-stage clinical trial with 30,000 participants, as well as tests in children, AstraZeneca said.
Dozens of other vaccine projects are under way around the world, from the US to China, drawing in major pharma giants, university labs and others.
Moderna Inc shares earlier this week jumped after the US biotech revealed positive early results from its experimental vaccine.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has said that any successful vaccine developed there would be made available as a global public good.
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