Tuesday, 16 Jun 2020 11:25 PM MYT
Drugmaker Sanofi, which is working on two potential coronavirus vaccines, said it would invest €610 million at two French sites to turn them into a hub dedicated to research, development and production of vaccines. There are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for Covid-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus which has killed more than 431,000 globally. Drugmakers across the world are rushing to address that, while governments in turn are jostling to try to ensure they will be in line for supplies.
In the latest sign European countries are now trying to catch up, a group formed by France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands struck a deal on Saturday to secure 400 million doses of AstraZeneca’s potential vaccine. Bringing production home may be a complicated process, industry players have warned, reversing a years-long strategy by drugmakers sources abroad to free up capital and escape countries like France where costs are high and labour laws tough.
Final stage clinical trials of Sanofi’s vaccines – one in partnership with Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline, the other with US company Translate Bio – are expected to start by the end of this year or the beginning of 2021.