Good news in the fight against Covid! Instead of producing their own vaccine – as they got behind schedule on the elaboration – French laboratory Sanofi announced this Tuesday January 26 they will help rival Pfizer/BioNTech in producing their vaccine by packing it in a Frankfurt manufactory, Germany, in 2021.
“Since our main vaccine is a few months late, we asked ourselves how we could be of assistance now” Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson told Le Figaro. He went on: “We have looked at the different options possible before approaching Pfier/BioNTech as we signed a deal on Tuesday January 26”.
The goal? “Supplying 100 million doses by the end of the year, to be shipped to the European Union, and mostly in France” Hudson explains, adding packing will start in July.
This Wednesday January 27, Sanofi France head Olivier Bogillot already told BFMTV about providing factories: “When we got results of our study in December, that showed delay for our own vaccine, because we keep on developing our own vaccine, we told ourselves ‘how not using this delay to be useful and have to delay during that time?’” he said. He went on: “at Sanofi, we probably have industrial means that are unique in the world in terms of vaccine production. We said ‘let’s rope them in!’”
As for Sanofi’s very own vaccine, Hudson also detailed the reasons they are behind schedule: “This technology requires more time and we have a few months of extra delay, but we are confident”. He continues: “We managed to complete in nine months what would have taken 2 to 5 years”. A way to contribute to a collective effort.
