Serum Institute Partners With Gates Foundation, Gavi for COVID-19 Vaccine Production

The Serum Institute of India has partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to manufacture 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for low- and middle- income countries.

The foundation is donating $150 million to the alliance — a public-private public health partnership whose mission is to increase access to immunization in poor countries — to support the manufacturing of vaccine candidates from AstraZeneca and Novavax.

The Serum Institute said its vaccines will be priced at a maximum of $3 per dose.

AstraZeneca entered into a licensing agreement with the Serum Institute in June to produce 1 billion doses of its AZD1222 vaccine for low- and middle-income countries. It also secured a $750 million agreement with Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to manufacture and distribute 300 million doses of the vaccine (DID, June 5).

Novavax tapped the Serum Institute last week to develop and commercialize its NVX-CoV2373 vaccine candidate for low- and middle- income countries. The deal is expected to supply a minimum of 1 billion doses for the countries (DID, Aug. 7). — Jordan Williams