Sanofi to develop coronavirus vaccine with US health department

Major pharmaceutical firm Sanofi has announced it will work with the US Department of Health & Human Services on a vaccine for the coronavirus outbreak.

The company’s vaccines unit, Sanofi Pasteur, will work with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 - which has so far infected over 70,000 people worldwide and killed over 1,700.

“Addressing a global health threat such as this newest coronavirus is going to take a collaborative effort, which is why we are working with BARDA to quickly advance a potential vaccine candidate,” said David Loew, global head of Vaccines at Sanofi. “While we are lending our expertise where possible, we believe the collaboration with BARDA may provide the most meaningful results in protecting the public from this latest outbreak.”

Sanofi hopes that its experience in developing a vaccine for SARS, a virus which is closely linked to COVID-19 will aid its effort in developing this new vaccine. The company will investigate an advanced pre-clinical SARS vaccine that may protect against COVID-19.

Sanofi states that it is uniquely positioned to develop a coronavirus vaccine due to its previous development work surrounding SARS. The company will use a recombinant DNA platform to produce a candidate vaccine. The technology works by producing an exact genetic match to proteins found on the surface on the virus. More so, since this platform is already licensed, research and materials can be produced relatively quickly for clinical testing.

“Emerging global health threats like the 2019 novel coronavirus require a rapid response,” said BARDA director Rick A. Bright. “By expanding our partnership with Sanofi Pasteur and leveraging a licensed recombinant vaccine platform, we hope to speed development of a vaccine candidate to protect against a new virus.”

Earlier this month, BARDA signed an agreement with Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine branch Janssen, to develop a potential vaccine for coronavirus.

"Developing an effective vaccine will be critical if we are to protect people against the novel coronavirus and combat future outbreaks," said Paul Stoffels, M.D., vice chairman of the Executive Committee and chief scientific officer, Johnson & Johnson. "This partnership will ensure that vital research is made possible at rapid speed and underscores the importance of public-private partnerships to tackle the worldwide novel coronavirus epidemic. We are also in discussions with other partners, that if we have a vaccine candidate with potential, we aim to make it accessible to China and other parts of the world."