The government will buy potential Covid-19 vaccines from US drugmakers Johnson & Johnson and Novavax, the companies said yesterday, boosting the number of deals it has with drugmakers as the global vaccine race rages on.
Britain and the US are in the lead with six vaccine deals with drugmakers each, as companies and governments worldwide work overtime to find a vaccine against the pandemic disease.
The latest agreements bring Britain’s total number of doses secured to 362mn for a population of 66mn, and Britain said both vaccines could be available by the middle of next year for priority groups, such as frontline health and social care workers, ethnic minorities, adults with serious diseases, and the elderly.
The deals cover a wide range of vaccine types currently in development for Covid-19, as Britain seeks to hedge its bets should one or more of the technologies prove ineffective.
“The government’s strategy to build a portfolio of promising vaccine candidates will ensure we have the best chance possible of finding one that works,” Business Minister Alok Sharma said in a statement.
Johnson & Johnson said its Janssen Pharmaceutica unit will supply Britain with its candidate, known as Ad26.COV2.S, with an initial sale of 30mn doses on a not-for-profit basis for emergency pandemic use.
The advance purchase agreement will also provide an option for an additional purchase of up to a 22mn doses, it said.
Separately, Novavax said Britain would buy 60mn doses of its vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373.
Novavax will manufacture some of the vaccine using Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies facilities in Stockton-on-Tees, northern England.
Alex Harris, head of global policy at the Wellcome Trust health charity, said the deals put the Britain in a strong position, and urged the government to explain how it will now ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines for poorer countries too.
“Without this...the risk increases that other rich countries will seek to strike similar bilateral deals, potentially...leaving insufficient volumes of vaccine for the rest of the world,” Harris said in a statement.
The Janssen vaccine uses an adenovirus technique to ferry coronavirus proteins into cells in the body, while the Novavax shot uses a technology known as recombinant nanoparticle to produce antigens — molecules that are designed to spur the immune system into action.
Recent studies show the odds of an experimental vaccine making it from early testing in people to regulatory approval are roughly one in three.
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