The European Commission has signed a joint procurement contract with Spanish pharmaceutical firm HIPRA for the supply of its protein COVID-19 vaccine
Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HERA), a Directorate-General of the European Commission created to prepare the European Union (E.U.) for a future pandemic, has signed a Joint Procurement Framework Contract with Spanish pharmaceutical firm HIPRA Human Health for the supply of their protein Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine.
A total of 14 Member States are participating in this joint procurement, under which they can purchase up to 250 million doses. With COVID-19 cases on the rise in Europe, this agreement will make the HIPRA vaccine rapidly available to the participating countries, as soon as this vaccine has received a positive assessment by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
HERA was established in September 2021 to replace ad hoc solutions to pandemic management and response with a permanent structure with adequate tools and resources to plan the E.U. action in case of health emergencies.
The HIPRA bivalent recombinant protein vaccine is being developed as a booster dose in previously immunized persons aged 16 years and older. The HIPRA vaccine is stored at refrigerated temperature between 2 and 8ºC, facilitating storage and distribution in Europe and across the world.
Taking it to twitter, the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety – Stella Kyriakides tweeted,
An increase in #COVID19 vaccination and boosting is key in the coming months to protect our citizens.
— Stella Kyriakides (@SKyriakidesEU) August 2, 2022
The HIPRA vaccine adds another option to our broad vaccine portfolio.
This is our 🇪🇺 #HealthUnion in action – preparing ahead and being ready to act.https://t.co/61UhrwrWl3
The joint procurement contract with HIPRA is in addition to the existing contracts which the E.U. has with various vaccine developers including AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, BioNtech-Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax and Valneva. The E.U. has secured 4.2 billion doses under the E.U. Vaccines Strategy. This diversified vaccine portfolio will ensure Europe to remain prepared for COVID-19. The participating countries can decide to donate the vaccines to lower and middle-income countries or to re-direct them to other European countries.
The COVID-19 vaccine from HIPRA is currently under rolling review by EMA. If the vaccine receives a marketing authorisation, participating countries will be able to purchase the vaccine through the framework contract.
The E.U.’s Joint Procurement Agreement offers the 36 participating countries to jointly procure medical counter measures as an alternative or complement to procurement at national level. Framework contracts for COVID-19 therapeutics have previously been concluded with Hoffmann-La Roche and GlaxoSmithKline Ltd for the purchase of monoclonal antibodies, as well as with Gilead for the purchase of an antiviral.
