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HEALTH-VIRUS-FRANCE-VACCINES-SANOFI
France says pharma giant Sanofi could make rivals’ Covid vaccines
PARIS, Jan 15, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Sanofi, France’s biggest pharmaceutical
company, could help produce foreign-developed Covid-19 vaccines pending the
launch of its own vaccine, which will not be ready for months, a government
minister said Friday.
Industry Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told Radio Classique that vaccines
developed by BioNTech, which partners with Pfizer, and Janssen, owned by
Johnson and Johnson, were the most likely choices for Sanofi to lend a
helping hand.
The world has been scrambling to develop and produce enough anti-Covid
vaccines, with innoculation drives hampered by limited stocks of doses and
logistical constraints.
France had high hopes that its national champion Sanofi would contribute to
a first wave of coronavirus inoculations, but the company’s vaccine will not
be ready before the end of the year.
Pannier-Runacher said she had therefore begun talks with Sanofi to act as a
sub-contractor for other firms while it completed its own Covid jabs.
“We are looking at this together with them,” she said, “and they are
examining with BioNTech on the one hand and Janssen on the other whether it
would be possible.”
Sanofi itself told AFP that it was evaluating “the technical feasibility of
temporarily carrying out some production stages to support other makers of
Covid-19 vaccines,” without naming either BioNTech or Janssen.
Talks were still “at a very preliminary stage,” it said.
Pannier-Runacher said the main question was whether Sanofi had the spare
capacity to make the doses in three to five months, with active ingredients
adding another a few months, in a process “that usually takes 12 to 18
months.”
The minister rejected criticism of Sanofi’s tardiness in developing its
vaccine, saying the company was only “three months late” compared to its July
target, and that its performance was still “extraordinary.”
Delpharm, a French sub-contractor for the pharmaceutical industry, said in
November that it would produce the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine in its factory in
northwestern France.
Recipharm, another sub-contractor, will be producing the vaccine developed
by Moderna starting late February or early March, Pannier-Runacher said last
week.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said Friday that any vaccines produced
in France would be part of the total number of doses ordered by the European
Union, and distributed in France as part of the national quota negotiated
between EU members.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1834 hrs