Story at a glance
- Drug manufacturer AstraZeneca anticipates potential 2 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine.
- This comes as several new deals give the drug company increased support and funding.
The British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, currently in partnership with Oxford University, is one of the firms most likely to develop a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year.
On Thursday, the company announced the formation of several new deals that will enable it to have the manufacturing capacity of about 2 billion doses of its potential vaccine.
NBC reports that the deals were formed between AstraZeneca and multiple partners, including Bill Gates, so as to guarantee a supply of vaccines to lower-income countries. Another reported partner includes the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines by volume.
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“Our goal is to leave nobody behind,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said.
Under Thursday’s deals, the company will supply 300 million doses of its vaccine to the epidemic disease group CEPI and vaccine collective GAVI starting in 2020. From there, those groups will work to distribute it equitably across the globe, according to Soriot.
This comes as AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s partnership was selected by the Trump administration as one of the top five candidates to produce a vaccine for COVID-19 by the end of the year. This will give the company access to more resources to continue fast tracking production, including a new $1 billion in funding.
The partnership’s potential vaccine is currently dubbed AZD1222. Last month, the White House ordered 300 million of the first doses; the United Kingdom reportedly secured another 100 million.
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