The UK has signed agreements to buy 90 million doses of vaccines in development to treat COVID-19 by drugmakers including Pfizer Inc, BioNTech SE and Valneva SE.
The British government yesterday said that it has secured access to three different vaccine candidates and it is setting up a program seeking 500,000 volunteers to participate in clinical trials.
Pfizer and BioNTech plan to supply 30 million doses of their vaccine candidate this year and next, the companies said.
Photo: AFP
The companies plan to seek approval as early as October and could produce as many as 100 million doses by the end of this year.
The UK described the order as that alliance’s first binding agreement with any government.
The US has been supporting Pfizer and BioNTech’s efforts through its US$10 billion Operation Warp Speed research program. The vaccine uses a novel technology called messenger RNA (mRNA).
Valneva agreed to supply 60 million doses of a shot that it is developing. The UK previously struck a supply agreement for a vaccine being tested by AstraZeneca PLC with the University of Oxford.
The UK also said that it ordered treatments containing antibodies that neutralize COVID-19 from AstraZeneca.
Valneva, a French drugmaker, would supply a further 40 million doses if its vaccine is found to be safe, effective and suitable, the UK said.
The company is producing the vaccine at a factory in Livingston, Scotland.
Valneva said it expects the government to help fund clinical studies and it is negotiating funding to expand the Livingston facility.
Separately, Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) said that it would invest ￡130 million (US$163 million) to buy a 10 percent stake in Germany’s CureVac AG, launching a collaboration to develop up to five mRNA-based vaccines with technology already being used by the biotech company to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
CureVac’s existing COVID-19 mRNA and rabies vaccines research programs are not included in the deal, the companies said.
CureVac, based in Tuebingen and backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, last month said that it would start human trials of an experimental vaccine for treating COVID-19 in the country.
Additional reporting by Reuters
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
Taiwan is open to joining a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) program if one is created, but on the condition that countries provide delivery even in a scenario where there is a conflict with China, an energy department official said yesterday. While Taiwan’s priority is to have enough LNG at home, the nation is open to exploring potential strategic reserves in other countries such as Japan or South Korea, Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said. While the LNG market does not have a global reserve for emergencies like that of oil, the concept has been raised a few times —
RSS