Sanofi’s CEO Paul Hudson said a vaccine candidate COVID-19 that the company is developing will not be ready in 2021.
“This vaccine will not be ready this year, but it could be useful at a later stage even more if the fight against variants continues.” Reported by Reuters Hudson told the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
The CEO gave no other details, according to the media.
The Hill contacted the company for comment.
Sanofi has partnered with the American company Translate Bio last June develop the vaccine based on mRNA technology. Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines – both authorized for emergency use in the United States – also use this technology.
Reuters reported that clinical trials of the company’s vaccine were expected to begin this quarter, and Sanofi said in December that the “potential early approval” of the vaccine would be in the second half of 2021.
Sanofi announced in December that interim results from a phase 1/2 clinical trial of a separate vaccine being developed with the UK’s GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) showed that the candidate produced a low immune response in older adults. The company at the time said that the low immune response could be due to an insufficient concentration of the antigen.
The company plans to start a phase 2b trial of this vaccine this month, a move that will delay its availability for some time in the second half of 2021.
The news comes after Sanofi announced in end of January which will help Pfizer and BioNTech produce doses of its vaccine at its facilities in Frankfurt, Germany, starting this summer.