Sanofi and GSK in advanced discussions with EU to supply up to 300 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine

Discussions relate to vaccine candidate using Sanofi’s recombinant protein-based technology combined with GSK’s pandemic adjuvant system.

The vaccine candidate developed by Sanofi in partnership with GSK, is based on the recombinant protein-based technology used by Sanofi to produce an influenza vaccine, and GSK’s established adjuvant technology.

Sanofi is leading the clinical development and registration of the COVID-19 vaccine and expects a Phase I/II study to start in September, followed by a Phase III study by the end of 2020.

If data are positive, regulatory approval could be achieved by the first half of 2021. In parallel, Sanofi and GSK are scaling up manufacturing of the antigen and adjuvant to produce up to one billion doses per year overall.

The doses would be manufactured in European countries including France, Belgium, Germany and Italy.

“Today’s announcement helps to ensure that millions of Europeans will have access to a potential vaccine protecting against COVID-19, once proven safe and effective,” said Thomas Triomphe, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Sanofi Pasteur.

According to Roger Connor, President of GSK Vaccines both companies have significant R&D and manufacturing capability in Europe and are already working hard to scale up production across their networks.