UK signs deal with GSK & Sanofi for 60 million Covid-19 vaccine doses

Pharmaceutical companies GSK and Sanofi will provide the UK government with 60 million doses of their Covid-19 vaccine if the candidate is found successful.

The early access agreement follows another deal the government has made with three pharmaceutical companies to receive up to 90 million doses of potential vaccine candidates.

Sanofi and GSK announced a collaboration earlier this year to work on developing a vaccine for Covid-19. The vaccine is based on technology Sanofi developed to produce an influenza vaccine. In particular, it will use a protein-based antigen which is based on recombinant DNA technology which has produced a genetic match to the proteins found on the surface of Covid-19.

GSK will contribute its pandemic adjuvant technology to help reduce the amount of vaccine protein required per dose, allowing more vaccine doses to be produced and hopefully protect more people.

Sanofi is expecting a phase 1/2 study to start in September, followed by a phase 3 study at the end of the year. Depending on whether the data are positive, the companies hope to gain regulatory approval by the first half on 2021.

In preparation, Sanofi and GSK are scaling up manufacturing of the antigen and adjuvant to produce up to 1 billion doses per year.

Kate Bingham, chair of the government’s Vaccines Taskforce, said: “Through this agreement with GSK and Sanofi, the Vaccine Taskforce can add another type of vaccine to the three different types of vaccine we have already secured.

This diversity of vaccine types is important because we do not yet know which, if any, of the different types of vaccine will prove to generate a safe and protective response to COVID-19. Whilst this agreement is very good news, we mustn’t be complacent or over optimistic. The fact remains we may never get a vaccine and if we do get one, we have to be prepared that it may not be a vaccine which prevents getting the virus, but rather one that reduces symptoms.”

Thomas Triomphe, executive vice president and global head of Sanofi Pasteur commented: “With our partner GSK, we are pleased to cooperate with the UK government as well as several other countries and global organisations as part of our ongoing efforts to ensure a safe and effective vaccine is available to everyone as quickly as possible. We greatly appreciate the UK government’s support of this shared vision.”

Roger Connor, President of GSK Vaccines added: “We believe that this adjuvanted vaccine candidate has the potential to play a significant role in overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic, both in the UK and around the world. We thank the UK government for confirmation of purchasing intent, which supports the significant investment we are already making as a company to scale up development and production of this vaccine.”