Washington: British drugmaker AstraZeneca said Thursday it has an agreement with a Chinese company to produce 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, when completed, in China by the end of this year.
AstraZeneca said in a post to Chinese social platform WeChat that it has a deal with Shenzhen-based vaccine manufacturer BioKangtai to license Astra’s investigatory AZD1222 candidate, which it’s developing in a partnership with Oxford University.
Under the partnership, AstraZenica will provide the initial 100 million doses this year and as many as 200 million doses by the end of 2021. It also specifies a commitment for the two companies to explore distributing a vaccine in other markets.
AstraZenca has already agreed to supply more than 2 billion doses of its vaccine, if it proves effective, in Britain, the United States, Europe and India.
The AZD1222 vaccine candidate is now in a final, third-stage clinical trial. AstraZenica said last month interim results from the early stages showed AZD1222 was well tolerated and generated “robust immune responses” against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
