AZN AstraZeneca PLC

   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)

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