PARIS (Reuters) – A COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by Sanofi and the American group Translate Bio “will not be ready this year,” the head of the French drug executive told Le Journal du Dimanche.
Clinical trials of this vaccine, which will be based on a technology known as mRNA – the weak vaccines approved by Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna – are expected to begin this quarter.
In December last year, Sanofi said it was aiming for “the earliest potential approval” of the shooting in the second half of 2021, following positive preclinical data.
“This vaccine will not be ready this year, but it could be useful at a later stage, especially if the fight against variants continues,” said Paul Hudson.
The CEO did not give further details. Sanofi officials were not available for comment.
The news could mark another blow for Sanofi, already under attack with a delay for another candidate for the COVID-19 vaccine that it hopes to bring to patients and for which the company has teamed up with the British GlaxoSmithKline.
The two groups stunned investors last year by warning of their traditional protein-based COVID-19 jab, which showed an insufficient immune response in the elderly, delaying its launch by the end of 2021.
To quell criticism, Sanofi said last month that it had agreed to fill and package millions of doses of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in July.
About 108 million people have been reported infected with the new coronavirus globally and more than 2.4 million have died since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019, according to a Reuters report.
Countries around the world have started mass vaccination programs since the beginning of the year, with mixed results, and are now facing the emergence of several strains that force them to move even faster.
Reporting by Matthias Blamont; Montage of Dominique Vidalon