European Commission approves APA with Novavax for buying 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine
The European Commission and United States (U.S.) based biotechnology company Novavax, today, i.e., Thursday, August 5, 2021, finalized the Advance Purchase Agreement (APA) for procuring 200 million doses of Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine for the bloc.
As a part of its strategy, to accelerate the development, manufacturing and deployment of effective and safe vaccines against COVID-19, the European Commission finances parts of the upfront costs faced by vaccines producers in the form of Advance Purchase Agreements. In return, it gets the right to buy a specified number of vaccine doses in a given timeframe.
Novavax is the seventh company with which the E.U. has signed a supply deal for COVID-19 vaccines. Prior to this, it had signed agreements with AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, BioNTech-Pfizer, CureVac and Moderna for the COVID-19 vaccines.
The move is aimed at diversifying its vaccine portfolio after the bloc betted heavily for the coming years on messenger RNA (mRNA) shots produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
Taking it to twitter, the President of European Commission – Ursula von der Leyen tweeted,
As variants are spreading, we need to stay vigilant.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) August 4, 2021
We approved a new contract with @Novavax for 200 million doses of its vaccine, which is already being tested successfully against variants.
With our broad vaccine portfolio we protect Europeans and help vaccinate the world. pic.twitter.com/3IQ2692CAz
The European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety – Stella Kyriakides tweeted,
✅@EU_Commission has authorised @Novavax #COVID19 vaccine contract, our 7th so far.
— Stella Kyriakides (@SKyriakidesEU) August 4, 2021
It expands our portfolio to include another technology platform showing promise in clinical trials.
We will keep working to ensure that vaccines continue to reach citizens in 🇪🇺 and globally. https://t.co/8bYFT96Y4u
Under the contract, the E.U. States will be able to buy up to 100 million doses of the Novavax vaccine, with an option for 100 million additional doses until 2023, subject to the shot getting approved by European Medicines Agency. Novavax is working to complete the submission of vaccine data to the EMA in the third quarter of this year, with delivery of initial doses expected to begin after approval. Member States will also be able to donate vaccines to lower and middle-income countries or to re-direct them to other European countries.
While Novavax reached a preliminary deal with the bloc in December, the final agreement was delayed for months because the U.S. company faced productions problems.
Besides, French drugmaker Sanofi, in partnership with British firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L), is also trying to produce a protein-based COVID-19 vaccine and has already signed a supply deal with the E.U. But their trials suffered a setback in December, delaying development.
