Court rulings on disputes between EU and AstraZeneca over vaccine. Here’s the verdict.

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A legal dispute between the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant

AstraZeneca

and the European Union on a contract to supply vaccine has ended, with both sides claiming victory.

The European Commission (EC), the executive body of the EU, took AstraZeneca (AZ) to court, accusing it of breaching its contract to supply the vaccine doses and claiming that the drug firm had no workable plan to remedy shortages and delays that hinder its activities.

The EC had asked the Court to order the drug maker to provide the block with 120 million doses of vaccine cumulatively by the end of June 2021, and a total of 300 million doses by the end of September 2021.

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But in a statement from the FTSE 100-listed company it said the judge ordered the delivery of 80.2 million doses by September 27, 2021. To date, AstraZeneca said it has delivered more than 70 million doses to the European Union. It said it will significantly exceed 80.2 million doses by the end of June 2021.

All other measures requested by the EC were rejected and the Court ruled that the European Commission has no exclusivity or priority right over all other contracting parties, according to AZ.

Jeffrey Pott, AZ General Counsel, said the verdict also acknowledged that the difficulties AZ experienced during the pandemic had a significant impact on the delay: we are pleased with the court’s ruling. AstraZeneca has fully honored its agreement with the European Commission and we will continue to focus on the urgent task of delivering an effective vaccine, which we deliver on a non-profit basis, to protect people in Europe and around the world from the deadliest pandemic in a generation.

Read: EU legal complaint against AstraZeneca heard in Brussels court

In a statement, the European Commission (EC) said the Court of First Instance of Brussels has decided to grant interim measures, requiring AstraZeneca to urgently deliver 50 million doses of vaccine, the amount it believes were needed to meet the judges’ 80.2 million on Sept. 27 .

It alleged that the judge’s decision on the requested interim measures was based on the fact that AstraZeneca had committed a serious breach (faute lourde) of its contractual obligations with the EU.

The court also rules that AstraZeneca should have made every effort to deliver the vaccines within the agreed timeframe, including the UK manufacturing sites explicitly named in the contract, the EC said, especially given the major delays in deliveries to the EU.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: This decision confirms the Commission’s position: AstraZeneca did not fulfill the commitments in the contract. It’s good to see an independent judge confirm this.