EU and AstraZeneca Strike Deal to End Vaccine Row

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--A damaging lawsuit against COVID-19 vaccine maker AstraZeneca (Cambridge, U.K.) by the European Union (EU) has been averted following a last minute settlement.

The lawsuit, due to have begun in Brussels courts before the end of this month, centred on AstraZeneca's failure to meet its COVID-19 vaccine supply obligations to the EU earlier this year at the start of the region's massive vaccine rollout programme. In August 2020, the European Commission (EC) had signed a preliminary deal with AstraZeneca for the purchase of 300 million doses of its vaccine, with an option to purchase 100 million more, on behalf of EU Member States. Delivery of the first 80 million doses was due by the end of March this year but the company admitted deliveries would fall short by 60% to 31 million doses due to manufacturing problems.

The settlement agreed between both parties will see AstraZeneca committing to deliver 60 million doses of the vaccine--now called Vaxzevria--by the end of the third quarter 2021, 75 million by the end of the fourth quarter 2021 and 65 million by the end of the first quarter 2022. EU Member States will be provided with regular delivery schedules and AstraZeneca has agreed to partial rebates in the event of any delayed doses: 10% rebate for a one-month delay, 25% for two months and 40% for three months.

European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, said: "Today's settlement agreement guarantees the delivery of the remaining 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses by AstraZeneca to the EU. While this week we reached the important milestone of 70% full vaccination of the EU's adult population, there are significant differences in vaccination rates between our Member States, and the continued availability of vaccines, including AstraZeneca's, remain crucial. And as the strongest supporter of global vaccine cooperation and solidarity, we will continue helping the rest of the world. Our aim is to share at least 200 million doses of vaccines through COVAX with low and middle-income countries until the end of this year. Vaccine solidarity is and remains our trademark."

Ruud Dobber, executive vice president of the BioPharmaceuticals Business Unit at AstraZeneca, added: "I'm very pleased that we have been able to reach a common understanding which allows us to move forward and work in collaboration with the European Commission to help overcome the pandemic. We are fully committed to manufacture Vaxzevria for Europe following the release for supply of more than 140 million doses to date at no profit. We are also looking forward to working with the European Commission in a joint effort to further support COVAX."

The European Medical Agency (EMA) has been busy fast-tracking new manufacturing sites for COVID-19 vaccines this year to help deal with supply bottlenecks. Industrial Info reported in April that the EMA had approved a number of new sites including the Halix facility in the Netherlands to produce AstraZeneca's (Cambridge, U.K.) coronavirus vaccine, a Pfizer Incorporated (NYSE:PFE) (New York, New York)/BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) (Germany) plant in Marburg, Germany and a Swiss manufacturing plant to boost production of the Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) (Massachusetts) vaccine. For additional information, see April 5, 2021, article - Europe Clears Extra COVID-19 Manufacturing Sites to Boost Supplies.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn.