AstraZeneca Inks Contract With Europe's IVA To Supply 400 Mln Doses Of COVID-19 Vaccine

(RTTNews) - British drug major AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L, AZN) said on Saturday that it has signed a contract with Europe's Inclusive Vaccines Alliance to supply up to 400 million doses of the University of Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine.

The contract signed by Europe's Inclusive Vaccines Alliance or IVA, a group formed by France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

The company said that the deliveries will start by the end of 2020 and adding that it was seeking to expand manufacturing of the vaccine to meet its commitment to support access to the vaccine at no profit during the pandemic.

AstraZeneca said it continues to build a number of supply chains in parallel across the world, including for Europe.

The company has recently completed similar agreements with the UK, US, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi the Vaccine Alliance for 700 million doses.

The company also agreed a licence with the Serum Institute of India for the supply of an additional one billion doses, principally for low- and middle-income countries.

The company stated that the total manufacturing capacity currently stands at two billion doses.

Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer, said: " With our European supply chain due to begin production soon, we hope to make the vaccine available widely and rapidly. I would like to thank the governments of Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands for their commitment and swift response."