French drugmaker Sanofi and Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline revealed that they had started a clinical trial of their protein-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, aimed at reaching the final testing stage by December.
As the number of coronavirus confirmed cases globally tops 25 million, and deaths – approximately 840k according to WHO latest report, French drugmaker Sanofi SA (NASDAQ: SNY) and Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline Plc (NYSE: GSK) announced that they have started a clinical trial of their protein-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Through the partnership, they aim to reach the final testing stage by December, in order to have their vaccine approved early next year.
Consequently, both entities’ stock value tweaked on Thursday, whereby Sanofi shares are up approximately 1% to trade around €86.04, at the time of writing. On the part of GlaxoSmithKline plc shares, they were up 0.46%, around €1496 at the time of writing.
Sanofi is a healthcare company, focused on patient needs and engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of therapeutic solutions.
On the other hand, GlaxoSmithKline PLC is a global healthcare company that focuses on its research on respiratory diseases, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/infectious diseases, Vaccines, Immuno-inflammation, Oncology and Rare diseases.
Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline on COVID-19 Vaccine
The two are working on a common project to develop a vaccine against the COVID-19. The vaccine candidate uses the same recombinant protein-based technology as one of Sanofi’s seasonal influenza vaccines. Whereby it will be coupled with an adjuvant, a substance that acts as a booster to the vaccine, which was developed by GlaxoSmithKline PLC.
In preparation for the production, the two companies have been meticulously planning on how to scale up production of the vaccine candidate and meet around 1billion doses at the end of 2021.
It is reported that the trial of their vaccine is currently in a “Phase 1/2 study” aimed at evaluating the safety, tolerability and also immune response of the vaccine in approximately 440 healthy adults across 11 investigational sites in the United States.
The two companies, Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline plc, have secured deals to supply the United States and Britain with their vaccine candidate. In addition, they are in advanced talks with the European Union to supply it with up to 300 million doses.
Previously, Sanofi was in loggerheads with French government for not prioritizing them over the global markets. However, since the company had been previously invested by the given countries, it was tied to first supply them with the vaccine.
On Tuesday, Sanofi said that the rheumatoid arthritis drug Kevzara failed a Phase 3 clinical trial testing the therapy as a treatment for severely ill COVID-19 patients.
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