Europe Inks Deal for 300 Million Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The European Commission (EC) has signed a deal for up to 300 million doses of BioNTech-Pfizer's (NYSE:PFE) COVID-19 vaccine just weeks after the partners' claimed that early test results found it to be more than 90% effective.

The deal is the Commission's fourth contract with pharmaceutical companies and provides for the initial purchase of 200 million doses on behalf of all European Union (EU) Member States, plus an option for a further 100 million doses, to be supplied "once a vaccine has proven to be safe and effective against COVID-19." Industrial Info reported recently on the successful early test results for the potential COVID-19 vaccine, BNT162b2. For additional information, see November 11, 2020, article - 'COVID-19 Vaccine Over 90% Effective' Claim Pfizer, BioNTech.

The vaccine supply for the EU will be produced by BioNTech's manufacturing sites in Germany and Pfizer's manufacturing site in Belgium and, based on current projections, the companies expect to produce up to 1.3 billion doses globally in 2021. Deliveries are anticipated to start by the end of 2020, subject to clinical success and regulatory authorisation. Pfizer's large Grange Castle plant in Dublin, Ireland, is currently quality testing batches of the vaccine candidate that is being manufactured at its plant in Puurs, Belgium.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said: "In the wake of Monday's promising announcement by BioNTech and Pfizer on the prospects for their vaccine, I'm very happy to announce today's agreement with the European company BioNTech and Pfizer to purchase 300 million doses of the vaccine. With this fourth contract, we are now consolidating an extremely solid vaccine candidate portfolio, most of them in advanced trials phase. Once authorised, they will be quickly deployed and bring us closer to a sustainable solution of the pandemic."

She added: "Once this vaccine becomes available, our plan is to deploy it quickly, everywhere in Europe. We have already started working with Member States to prepare national vaccination campaigns."

Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said: "A safe and effective vaccine is the only lasting exit strategy from the pandemic, and is at the centre of our European Vaccine Strategy. Today's agreement follows the encouraging first indications from the clinical trial results and is further evidence of our commitment to putting more Europe in the area of health. It is a very telling example of what the EU can achieve when working together, as a Union, and a case in point of what a future European Health Union will be able to deliver."

In June, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and BioNTech concluded a 100 million-euro ($118 million) debt financing agreement to allow the company to expand its manufacturing capacity in order to supply the vaccine quickly worldwide. In September, Industrial Info reported that BioNTech was buying a manufacturing site in Germany from Novartis to increase the production capacity for the vaccine. The plant in Marburg will allow the company to produce 750 million doses per year when at full capacity. For additional information, see September 28, 2020, article - BioNTech Buys German Plant to Boost COVID-19 Vaccine Production.

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