GSK and Sanofi aim for Covid-19 vaccine in 2021

GlaxoSmithKline said it was working with Sanofi of France on a Covid-19 vaccine that could be ready by the second half of 2021.

The companies said they had signed a letter of intent to combine their technologies to produce an adjuvanted vaccine for the coronavirus.

Sanofi will contribute its S-protein Covid-19 antigen, which is an exact genetic match to proteins found on the surface of the virus. GSK will contribute pandemic adjuvant technology, which can strengthen the effect of a vaccine, reducing the amount of vaccine protein required per dose, allowing more people to be protected.

The companies said they planned to start phase 1 clinical trials in the second half of 2020. If successful and regulators approve they aim to make the vaccine available in the second half of 2021. GSK and Sanofi said they would make the vaccine affordable to the public and give all countries fair access.

Emma Walmsley, chief executive of GSK, said: "This collaboration brings two of the world's largest vaccines companies together. By combining our science and our technologies, we believe we can help accelerate the global effort to develop a vaccine to protect as many people as possible from Covid-19."