The British government has signed an agreement to buy a new coronavirus vaccine that’s being developed by pharmaceutical giant, Sanofi and GSK.
The contract will supply the government with 60 million doses of the new vaccine, if it is able to prove its efficacy in tests carried out in September.
The British Government has already signed three deals to buy 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca, 30 million of the German vaccine by BioNTech and Pfizer, as well as 60 million doses of the French Valneva vaccine which is in the early stages of development.
Roger Connor, President of GSK, said the joint vaccine "has the potential to play a major role in the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK and around the world."
Sanofi is in charge of clinical development and registration of the vaccine and expects it to enter phase 1 and 2 of the study in September, then phase 3 by the end of the year.
If the data is positive, sample approval could be obtained by the first half of 2021.
Kate Bingham, Chairperson of the UK Vaccine Working Group, said the diversity of vaccines they have is important because it’s not yet known what type of vaccine will be able to generate a safe response to coronavirus.