Coronavirus Live Updates: Drugmakers Win $2.1 Billion Vaccine Deal With U.S.
Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline will use government funds in exchange for millions of doses of an experimental vaccine. Britain is halting reopenings and adding regional restrictions after a surge in cases.
The deal with Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline is the biggest so far with the U.S. government.
Under questioning from the top Republican on the oversight panel, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci said he and President Trump “were in agreement on virtually all” of the president’s decisions early in the pandemic, including banning flights from China and elsewhere, and that those decisions saved lives. The lawmaker did not ask about other of Mr. Trump’s decisions, though, like discouraging people from wearing masks.
The deal with Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline is the biggest so far with the U.S. government.
The French drug maker Sanofi said on Friday that it had secured an agreement of up to $2.1 billion to supply the United States government with 100 million doses of its experimental coronavirus vaccine, the largest such deal announced to date.
The arrangement brings the Trump administration’s investment in coronavirus vaccine projects to more than $8 billion. This sprawling, multiagency effort, known as Operation Warp Speed, is placing bets on multiple vaccines and is paying companies to manufacture millions of doses before clinical trials have been completed.
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“The global need for a vaccine to help prevent Covid-19 is massive, and no single vaccine or company will be able to meet the global demand alone,” Thomas Triomphe, executive vice president and global head of Sanofi Pasteur, the company’s vaccine division, said in a statement.
Under the deal announced, Sanofi and its partner, the British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, will receive federal funding to pay for clinical trials as well as for manufacturing the vaccine. Sanofi said the deal also includes an option for the company to supply an additional 500 million doses. The company expects to begin clinical trials to test for safety in September, followed by late-stage efficacy trials before the end of this year. Sanofi said it could apply for regulatory approval in the first half of next year.
If the vaccine is successful, it would be made available to Americans at no cost, other than what providers charge to administer it, the federal government said in a statement.
The head of Operation Warp Speed, Moncef Slaoui, is a former GSK executive who as of May held just under $10 million in GSK stock. Dr. Slaoui’s financial ties to some of the companies that are pursuing coronavirus vaccines have raised questions about conflicts of interest.
Sanofi and GSK did not say how much of the federal money would go to each company — only that Sanofi would receive the most. GSK did not comment on whether Dr. Slaoui had recused himself from negotiations over the deal. A senior administration official said all agreements were negotiated by federal “acquisition professionals” and that Dr. Slaoui did not play a role in the negotiations.
