The Sanofi logo is seen at the company’s research and production center in Vitry-sur-Seine, France, August 6, 2019.
Charles Platiau | Reuters
Sanofi will fill and package millions of doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in July in an effort to help meet the huge demand for American drug shots.
The French company will aim to supply more than 100 million doses of vaccine this year from its German factory in Frankfurt, CEO Paul Hudson told Le Figaro on Tuesday.
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech are fighting, like other Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers, such as AstraZeneca, to meet the huge demand for wildfires, which are the best bet in the world to overcome the pandemic.
Last month, Sanofi and Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline said a Covid-19 vaccine they were developing together showed an insufficient immune response in the elderly, delaying its launch later this year.
The company has been under pressure ever since to look for ways to help other Covid-19 vaccines designed by other drug manufacturers as the pandemic intensifies again in Europe and elsewhere.
“Because our main vaccine is a few months late, we wondered how we could be helpful now,” Hudson said.
Sanofi is also working on another candidate for the Covid-19 vaccine with US company Translate Bio, which uses mRNA technology, similar to the Pfizer / BioNTech approach. Phase I trials will begin this quarter.
Hudson confirmed in the interview that Sanofi remains engaged in the two vaccine projects.