AstraZeneca gearing up to deliver Covid vaccine from September

AstraZeneca said on Thursday that it is collaborating with a number of countries and multilateral organisations to make the University of Oxford's vaccine “widely accessible” in an equitable way, having concluded the first agreements for at least 400 million doses.

The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said it had secured total manufacturing capacity for one billion doses so far, and would begin the first deliveries in September.

It said it was working on further agreements supported by several parallel supply chains, which would expand capacity in the coming months to ensure the delivery of a “globally accessible” vaccine.

AstraZeneca also said it had received support of more than $1bn (£0.82bn) from the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for the development, production and delivery of the vaccine, starting in the autumn.

The development programme would include a phase 3 clinical trial with 30,000 participants, and a paediatric trial.

In addition, the company said it was engaging with international organisations, including the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organisation (WHO), for the fair allocation and distribution of the vaccine around the world.

AstraZeneca said it was in discussions with multiple governments to increase access as well, and was talking with the Serum Institute of India and other potential partners to increase production and distribution.

The firm noted that it recently joined forces with the UK government to support Oxford University's vaccine, and had progressed “rapidly” in its efforts to expand access around the world, adding that it would supply the UK from September.

“This pandemic is a global tragedy and it is a challenge for all of humanity,” said chief executive officer Pascal Soriot.

“We need to defeat the virus together or it will continue to inflict huge personal suffering and leave long-lasting economic and social scars in every country around the world.

“We are so proud to be collaborating with Oxford University to turn their ground-breaking work into a medicine that can be produced on a global scale.”

Soriot said the company was grateful for the “substantial support” from the UK and US governments to accelerate the development and production of the vaccine.

“We will do everything in our power to make this vaccine quickly and widely available.”

AstraZeneca said it had now finalised its licence agreement with Oxford University for the recombinant adenovirus vaccine.

The licensing of the vaccine, formerly ‘ChAdOx1 nCoV-19’ and now known as ‘AZD1222’, followed the recent global development and distribution agreement with the university's Jenner Institute and the Oxford Vaccine Group.

AstraZeneca said it had also agreed to support the establishment of a joint research centre at Oxford University for pandemic preparedness research.

A phase 1 and 2 clinical trial of AZD1222 began last month to assess safety, immunogenicity and efficacy in over 1,000 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 across several trial centres in southern England.

Data from the trial was expected shortly which, if positive, would lead to late-stage trials in a number of countries.

AstraZeneca said it recognised that the vaccine might not work, but said it was committed to progressing the clinical programme with speed, and scaling up manufacturing at risk.

“The company's comprehensive pandemic response also includes rapid mobilisation of AstraZeneca's global research efforts to discover novel coronavirus-neutralising antibodies to prevent and treat progression of the Covid-19 disease, with the aim of reaching clinical trials in the next three to five months,” the board said in its statement.

“Additionally, the company has quickly moved into testing of new and existing medicines to treat the infection, including the CALAVI and ACCORD trials underway for ‘Calquence’, or acalabrutinib, and the DARE-19 trial for ‘Farxiga’, or dapagliflozin, in Covid-19 patients.”

AstraZeneca said its announcement was not expected to have any significant impact on its financial guidance for 2020, with expenses to progress the vaccine anticipated to be offset by funding by governments.