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Summary
- The UK has added 90 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to its existing stockpile
- UK potential reserve stands at over 300 million doses of experimental vaccines
- AstraZeneca previously signed up for supplying 30 million of doses by September, and the UK has previously secured 60 million doses from GSK & Sanofi
The global pharmaceutical industry has been active since the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic. Lockdown, social distancing, and health safety are all passive measures to curb the spread of the contagious virus. The world is in dire need of a Covid-19 vaccine as most of the economies are at risk of sliding into recession. According to a recent release by the Office of National Statistics, UK’s economy has now officially entered recession, country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) plunged by nearly 21 per cent during the second quarter ended June 2020.
Social distancing, travel restrictions and lockdowns are just measures to avoid getting infected. In the present scenario, countries around the world are struggling to exit from lockdown to keep the rate of infection on the lower side. The world has pinned high hopes on the global pharmaceutical industry for a potential vaccine to combat against the deadly pandemic. Therefore, all the countries are rushing to make forward contracts with the drug-makers to safeguard their people and protect their respective economies.
In the latest, UK has added 90 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to its existing stockpile of the vaccine. Novavax, a US biotech company would supply around 60 million of coronavirus vaccine doses to the United Kingdom. In addition, Janssen Pharmaceutical Company owned by Johnson and Johnson would supply 30 million of coronavirus vaccine doses to the UK. The British government would be able to procure these two vaccines by the first half of 2021, upon approval from regulatory bodies. These two vaccines would take the country’s potential reserve to more than 300 million doses of experimental vaccines, according to the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy.
Government’s effort to safeguard its people
Britain has been in the hunt for a potential vaccine for a while now. Recently, the UK had signed a contractual agreement with the FTSE 100 listed drugmaker, GlaxoSmithKline Plc (LON: GSK) and its partner, Sanofi Pasteur, to procure 60 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. The UK had previously signed a contract with AstraZeneca Plc to procure 100 million doses of the potential Covid-19 vaccine. In addition, Britain has also secured 90 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine by signing multiple deals with global pharmaceutical giants such as Valneva, Pfizer Inc, and BioNTech.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Sanofi would join hands to supply up to 60 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to the British government. Both drug makers are committed to developing an affordable Covid-19 vaccine by leveraging upon each other’s strength. The potential vaccine would be developed by using GSK's pandemic adjuvant system along with Sanofi's recombinant protein-based technology. Both drug makers are leading the clinical development and registration of the COVID-19 vaccine. Phase 3 study is expected to be completed by the end of 2020, followed by regulatory approval, which is expected in the first half of 2021. Sanofi is scaling up manufacturing of the antigen and adjuvant to produce up to billion doses per year along with GSK.
Also read: GSK partners with Sanofi to supply 60 million dosages of potential vaccine to UK
GSK’s proven pandemic adjuvant technology along with Sanofi’s S-protein is being used to develop the potential vaccine. The use of an adjuvant can be of great significance because it can minimise the amount of vaccine protein needed per dose, allowing more doses of vaccine to be created and thereby helping to protect more individuals. The synthesis of a protein-based antibody and an adjuvant is well-established and utilised nowadays in a variety of already being used vaccines. To improve the inflammatory response, an adjuvant is introduced to certain vaccines, and it has been proven to deliver effective and long-lasting disease protection than the vaccine itself. It may also improve the chances of providing a successful treatment which can be delivered on a greater magnitude.
GSK and Sanofi are committed to serving the world and are in active discussions with the developed economies to provide the potential vaccine at affordable rates. GSK looks forward to leveraging upon its innovative vaccine adjuvant technology and is, therefore, collaborating with companies and research groups across the world.
British drug maker, AstraZeneca PLC (LON: AZN) has been making the headlines for being close in finding the potential Covid-19 vaccine, as it has partnered with researchers at the University of Oxford. The University's Jenner Institute was one of the first research institutions in the world that initiated a vaccine development process for the COVID-19 virus. Its vaccine candidate code-named ChAdOx1 nCovid-19 had shown promising results in preliminary trials. When it was first tried on chimpanzees, they did not show any damage to the lungs, though the virus continued to multiply in the throat cavity. Encouraged by these results, the institute initiated the process of a human trial by recruiting 1000 volunteers.
It also entered a deal with AstraZeneca, whereby the company will now be manufacturing and selling this vaccine across the world. Encouraged by its initial success, several governments around the world, including the British government entered an understanding with Oxford-AstraZeneca to buy 100 million doses of this potential vaccine even before it is fully proven. The British drug-maker promised to provide the UK with 30 million doses of coronavirus vaccine by September upon successful trials. However, as months passed by several more research groups emerged across the world who quickly advanced to clinical trials stages and were only months behind the tentative date Oxford-AstraZeneca had given for the expected rollout of the vaccine.
Also read: AstraZeneca to supply Europe with up to 400 million Doses of Covid-19 vaccine by the end of 2020
According to some reports, AstraZeneca Plc was in talks with organisations like the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and governments to speed up delivering Covid-19 vaccine to the world. The company is presently working on the delivery system for the rest of the world. The company is looking forward to leveraging its longstanding relationship with the University of Oxford in advance basic research.
Although the global pharmaceutical industry has been working hard in finding the cure of the deadly virus, developing a vaccine is a time-taking process. Testing of vaccines takes a longer time than preparing a vaccine. Firstly, they are tested on animals, and then after satisfactory results, these are tested on human beings in phases. According to market experts, the most critical phase is the third phase, which is carried out in masses to study the side effects and effectiveness. Only after successful trials in all three phases, the vaccine is given permission for mass production. Since it is a time taking process, the UK government is forging contracts in advance and stockpiling all the potential discoveries to get the vaccine at the earliest.
