AstraZeneca reaches settlement with EU over COVID-19 vaccine delivery

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The settlement brings delivered doses to 300 million as agreed The agreement will also end pending litigation in Brussels Specific discounts will apply to the vaccine if doses are delayed.

(Reuters) – AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and the European Commission have reached a settlement over the drug company’s delivery of 200 million pending doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, ending a row over shortages that affected the company and the region. vaccination campaign.

The dispute plunged the European Union into crisis earlier this year as countries, under pressure to speed up vaccinations, scrambled to get injections. It also caused a public relations crisis for the French company AstraZeneca led by Pascal Soriot.

After reducing its initial reliance on the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company, Brussels said parts of the volumes committed under the agreement would be moved outside the European Union to ease global vaccine inequalities. The block vaccine supply now mainly comes from Pfizer/BioNTech (PFE.N), (22UAy.DE).

As part of Friday’s settlement, AstraZeneca committed to delivering 60 million doses of its vaccine, Vaxzevria, by the end of the third quarter of this year, 75 million by the end of the fourth quarter and 65 million by the end of the first quarter of 2022.

When including deliveries that have already been made, this timeline shows honoring 300 million doses of a wholesale purchase contract struck about a year ago between the company and the European Union, after months of wrangling over delays.

The European Commission launched legal action against AstraZeneca in April for not honoring this contract and for not having a “credible” plan to ensure timely delivery.

The EU executive said that under the new agreement, member states would be provided with regular delivery schedules and if there were any late doses, specific discounts would apply. She added that priority will be given to EU members with low vaccination rates.

Vaccination rates

“There are significant differences in vaccination rates between our member states, and the continued availability of vaccines, including those for AstraZeneca, remains crucial,” said EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides.

It also said some of the deliveries under the settlement would go to low-income countries outside the European Union.

“We will continue to help the rest of the world. Our goal is to share at least 200 million doses of vaccines through COVAX with low- and middle-income countries through the end of this year,” she said, referring to the management of the Vaccine Sharing Facility. By the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and the World Health Organization. The European Commission stuck to its campaign schedule, saying this week that 70% of the EU’s adult population has been fully vaccinated, meeting the target set at the start of the year. Read more

Normalization allows distribution while the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus is causing a spike in cases and vaccines are being studied to extend protection life.

Vaccine needs in the European Union have been largely met by Pfizer and BioNTech because partners have been able to ramp up production for abundant supplies. Concerns about very rare cases of serious blood clotting associated with the Astra injection, which was jointly developed with the University of Oxford, has affected demand for it.

Astra shot use in the region declined further when Germany decided in July that initial Astra shot recipients would supplement the shot regimen with a dose of Pfizer or Moderna.

“I am very happy that we have been able to reach a common understanding that allows us to move forward and work in cooperation with the European Commission to help overcome the pandemic,” said Rod Dober, AstraZeneca’s chief executive officer.

About 92 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been distributed to European Union member states so far, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. That’s well below the 437 million doses provided by Pfizer/BioNTech but ahead of the 77 million Moderna vaccine (MRNA.O) doses that have been delivered.

Astra said it has released more than 140 million doses so far at no profit to the EU, including doses not yet delivered to member states and EU shipments to COVAX or to other non-EU countries.

Additional reporting by Boshkala Aripaka in Bengaluru and Keith Weir in London and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Shunak Dasgupta, Edmund Blair and David Evans

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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