A sign of intense competition between states, contracts are multiplying to try to ensure access to a possible anti-Covid-19 vaccine. The most recent, the agreement announced Friday between Sanofi and GSK with the United States, for a financing of more than 2 billion dollars. The vaccine candidate developed jointly by the French Sanofi and the British GSK has been selected for the US program "Operation Warp Speed", Sanofi announced in a press release on Friday. This government program aims to provide Americans with access to an anti-Covid vaccine as quickly as possible, via a number of agreements signed with laboratories.
In detail, Sanofi and GSK will receive up to 2.1 billion US dollars against the initial supply of 100 million doses to the Americans. This collaboration "will finance development activities and increased manufacturing capacity of Sanofi and GSK in the United States for vaccine production," says Sanofi. The French laboratory, which will receive the majority of funding from the US government, says the latter also has an option for the supply of 500 million additional doses in the longer term.
A candidate validated in the first semester of 2021
The Sanofi and GSK vaccine candidate is based on the recombinant protein technology that Sanofi used to produce an influenza vaccine and on the adjuvant for pandemic use developed by GSK. Sanofi expects to launch its Phase I / II clinical trial in September, ahead of the Phase III study (the very last step) by the end of the year, for approval which could take place in the first half of 2021 .
Before this new agreement, the United States had already spent more than $ 6 billion since March to finance competing projects, at established laboratories like Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, and at two small biotech companies, Novavax and Moderna. . "The vaccine portfolio built up under the 'Operation Warp Speed' program increases the chances of having at least one safe and effective vaccine by the end of the year," said Alex Azar, US Secretary to Health, quoted in the Sanofi press release.
Global public good?
And similar operations are multiplying across the world. Because in the fight against the pandemic, laboratories are required to accelerate the stages of vaccine development, and prepare their production units without even knowing the results of clinical trials, so without knowing whether the vaccine will actually see the light of day. Entering into agreements with states allows them to share the risks, while in return, governments ensure a vaccine supply if the research is successful.
Thus, Sanofi and GSK announced Wednesday an agreement on 60 million doses with the United Kingdom. They are also expected to sign an agreement with the European Union shortly, covering 300 million doses. However, no amount was disclosed by stakeholders. This competition is controversial, because it raises the question of the access of developing countries to the vaccine, which do not have the means to finance such large contracts, fueling fears of seeing them served last.
In mid-July, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution stressing that any vaccine against the Covid-19 pandemic must be considered as “a global public good” and insisting on the need for '' rapid, equitable and unhindered access to safe, affordable, effective and quality medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and therapies'.
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