The Sanofi logo is seen at the company’s research and production center in Vitry-sur-Seine, France, August 6, 2019.
Charles Platiau | Reuters
Sanofi will fill and pack millions of doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine starting in July, in an effort to help meet the huge demand for injections from the American pharmaceutical company.
The French company will aim to help deliver more than 100 million doses of the vaccine this year from its German factory in Frankfurt, CEO Paul Hudson told Le Figaro newspaper on Tuesday.
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech are, like other Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers like AstraZeneca, struggling to meet the huge demand for vaccines that are the best bet in the world to overcome the pandemic.
Last month, Sanofi and Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline said a Covid-19 vaccine they are developing together showed an insufficient immune response in older people, delaying its launch later this year.
The company has been under pressure ever since to look for ways to help with Covid-19 vaccines created by other drug manufacturers, as the pandemic intensifies again in Europe and elsewhere.
“Since our main vaccine is a few months late, we wondered how we could help now,” said Hudson.
Sanofi is also working on another Covid-19 vaccine candidate with the American company Translate Bio, which uses mRNA technology, similar to the Pfizer / BioNTech approach. Phase I testing is expected to begin this quarter.
Hudson confirmed in the interview that Sanofi remains committed to its two vaccine projects.