Sanofi and GSK today began the Phase 1/2 clinical trial for their COVID-19 vaccine.
A total of 440 healthy adults were involved at 11 trial sites in the United States.
The goal announced by the companies is to produce up to one billion doses in 2021. At the forefront will be the Anagni plant, which will be the first in Europe to start production of the vaccine.
The companies are committed to providing the first results as early as the beginning of December 2020, for a simultaneous phase 3 trial start. The candidate vaccine, developed jointly by Sanofi and GSK, is a subunit-based recombinant DNA vaccine based on a technology already used for the production of the recombinant quadrivalent influenza vaccine that will make it possible to produce a significantly greater number of doses.
Italy is at the forefront of the production of this new vaccine against Covid-19 with its Anagni plant.
The Italian hub - together with France and Germany - will be one of the four involved in the production and implementation of the vaccine doses.
The Lazio plant is one of the four Sanofi sites in Italy and was founded in 1973: covering an area of 450 thousand square meters, it represents the largest plant for sterile freeze-dried products of the Sanofi Group in the world and is a center of excellence at European level for the production of sterile injectable pharmaceutical products.
The Anagni plant will be the first in Europe to field the vaccine.
"The official start of the clinical trial marks another important point linked to the global battle against the Covid19 pandemic. A progress that necessarily passes through teamwork and the grafting of transversal skills pooled together. On the other hand, the new challenges related to to health prevention they pass through alliances between all the players in the supply chain ", says Mario Merlo, General Manager of Sanofi Pasteur.
Meanwhile, the European Commission accelerates on the anti-Covid vaccine, with the first availability for member countries expected for November, and on universal access to the drug.
According to Ansa learns from Commission officials, the first availability of the vaccine known as Oxford is expected in November, on which the Commission has signed a contract that allows member countries to buy 300 million doses with the option of another 100.
Furthermore, after the 400 million euro guarantee in support of research for the Covax partnership, next week the EU Executive and the WHO should launch a new mobilization of resources in favor of the WHO Accelerator Act, created for the equal access to the vaccine.
In the meantime, negotiations with pharmaceutical companies continue, with talks for the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine very advanced and in the final stages.
An agreement with the American multinational and German biotech would make it possible to set up a diversified bouquet of six vaccine candidates from the companies ahead in the vaccine trial (AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, CureVac, Moderna and Pfizer) for purchase by EU member countries, but also for donation to low-middle-income countries or redirection to other European countries.
