AstraZeneca Enters Agreements to Supply 1.3 Billion Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine

AstraZeneca has entered into two partnerships to manufacture and distribute 1.3 billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.

The British drugmaker yesterday announced a $750 million partnership with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to manufacture and distribute 300 million doses of its vaccine.

The agreement is the first through the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Access to COVID-19 Tools accelerator, which aims to speed the development, production and distribution of vaccines, drugs and diagnostics for the disease (DID, April 27).

CEPI will lead development and manufacturing and Gavi will lead the procurement for the  WHO. Delivery of the vaccines is expected to start by the end of the year.

AstraZeneca has also entered into an agreement with the Serum Institute of India to supply 1 billion doses for low- and middle-income countries. It has committed to provide 400 million  doses before the end of the year.

The company last month reached a licensing deal with Oxford University for the recombinant adenovirus vaccine, renaming it AZD1222 (DID, May 22).

AZD1222 is currently in phase 2 clinical testing in the UK, with other late-stage trials set to begin soon. AstraZeneca says it has a global supply capacity that exceeds 2 billion doses. — Jordan Williams