The European Commission reaches an agreement on the manufacture of 325 million doses of vaccines in the event of a future pandemic

2023-07-03 17:30:00

VACCINES/CONTRACTS – According Reuters, the European Commission has just concluded an agreement with several pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, in order to ensure the manufacture of vaccines in the event of a future global pandemic. This is to guarantee the production capacity of 325 million doses per year. The European Commission thus wishes to prepare for future global health emergencies.

According to the dispatch, published on June 30 by the press agency, the agreement in question does not concern orders for anti-Covid-19 vaccines. But it covers the possibility of manufacturing both mRNA-based vaccines (like Pfizer’s Comirnaty), recombinant proteins (like Novavax’s Nuvaxovid) and adenoviruses (known as vector-based, such as AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria). ).

The deal ensures the labs are prepared to respond to a possible health crisis by keeping their facilities up to date and monitoring their supply chains, according to the Reuters dispatch.. “Including by storing if necessary”said Brussels, which would allow companies to “quickly start production” in case of emergency.

Lack of transparency

The Commission has selected Pfizer’s factories based in Ireland and Belgium to ensure the production of mRNA vaccines. The Spanish companies Reig Jofre and Laboratorios Hipra SA will be in charge of the production of vaccines based on recombinant proteins. The manufacture of adenovirus vaccines will be guaranteed by the Dutch company Bilthoven Biologicals BV Neither the companies involved, nor the EU, have disclosed the financial details of the agreement, in a patent context of lack of transparency in the matter.

On the industrial side, the Pfizer laboratory declared “understanding the urgent need for better pandemic preparedness and response planning and has taken several key steps to prepare for possible global outbreaks”, without, however, detailing the measures in question. Reig Jofre told Reuters that this contract is concluded with the European Union for a period of 4 years, with the possibility of extending it for a maximum period of 8 years.