EU In Negotiations With Moderna, Biontech, Curevac For Cvodi-19 Vaccinees; Reuters


07/17/2020



Negotiations are currently underway by the European Union to secure vaccines against Covid-19 with pharma companies working on vaccines including Moderna, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson and biotech firms BioNtech and CureVac, claimed a report published by the news agency Reuter citing sources in the EU.
 
Earlier, agreements on vaccines with AstraZeneca was reached by reached in June by four EU states under which the drug maker will supply 400 million doses of its potential Covid-19 vaccine to the four countries, which in principle, will be made available to citizens of all the 27 EU members states.
 
According to the report, details of the ongoing talks was shared EU health ministers by the European Commission, the EU executive arm, during a meeting in Berlin on Thursday,
 
The news of the ongoing talks with vaccine candidates by the EU reflects the aggressiveness of the bloc to get hold of potential vaccines for against the pandemic after the United States took the early advantage and secured promises of treatments and vaccines for its citizens.
 
“We are in talk with several companies on possible COVID-19 vaccines,” a spokesman for the EU Commission told Reuters on Friday but did not provide any information on the specific firms because of the confidentiality of the negotiations.
 
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are more than 150 vaccines candidates that are currently under development and testing all around the world against the pandemic. There are 23 vaccine candidates that are currently in the human clinical trial phase and at least three of those are in the final Phase III testing. These include possible vaccines from China’s Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech and AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
 
Reuters reported that the talks between the EU and Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi are apparently in the most advanced stage as both the parties are reportedly currently discussions on the number of doses needed is going on.
 
Sources said that talks of delivering 200 million doses of its potential vaccine to the EU are being held with the US giant Johnson & Johnson. Options for additional supplies are also being discussed.
 
The report also claimed that 300 million doses of the potential Covid-19 vaccine that is being developed by France’s Sanofi, together with the British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc, is being planned to be secured for delivery to the EU by the second half of next year.
 
It was in “advanced talks with the EU for the delivery of 300 million doses”, Sanofi reportedly told Reuters when asked by the talks with the EU. 
 
According to reports, the EU is also holding negotiations with the US pharma company Moderna, whose under development vaccine for Covid-19 was reported to be safe and had reportedly exhibited immune responses in all 45 healthy volunteers that participated in an ongoing early-stage study.
 
Reuters also claimed that the EU is also holding negotiations to buy in advance their potential vaccines from German biotechnology firms BioNtech and CureVac. Both the firms have already been offered funds by the EU for aid in the development of their vaccines. 
 
(Source:wwww.reuters.com)