EU, Astrazeneca Reach Purchase Agreement for Potential Covid-19 Vaccine
August 14 2020 - 7:09AM
Dow Jones News
By Adriano Marchese
The European Commission has reached an agreement with
pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca PLC to purchase a potential
vaccine against Covid-19 once it has been proven to be safe and
effective.
The Commission said Friday that it has agreed on the basis for a
contractual framework to buy 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca
vaccine, with the option of purchasing 100 million more.
The purchases will be financed by the Emergency Support
Instrument on behalf of member states.
"The decision to support the vaccine proposed by AstraZeneca is
based on a sound scientific approach and the technology used, speed
at delivery at scale, cost, risk sharing, liability and the
production capacity able to supply the whole of the EU, among
others," the Commission said.
The vaccine candidate currently being developed by AstraZeneca
is in phase two-three clinical trials after showing promising
results in phase one-two with regards to safety and
immunogenicity--the ability of a foreign substance to provoke an
immune response in the body.
The vaccines are destined primarily for European member states,
but will also be donated to lower and middle-income countries, or
re-directed to other European countries, the Commission said.
Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 14, 2020 06:54 ET (10:54 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024