FRENCH pharmaceutical firm Sanofi plans to make any vaccine it develops against the novel coronavirus available to all, the company’s director-general, Paul Hudson, explained in a tweet yesterday.
This came as France and European Union (EU) said it would be “unacceptable” for Sanofi to prioritise the U.S. market if it develops the vaccine.
“The vaccine against COVID-19 will be made available to the public at large, regardless of nationality,” Hudson said.
“The U.S. government has the right to the largest pre-order because it invested in taking the risk,” Hudson told Bloomberg.
In April, Sanofi and the pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline, said they wanted to work together on a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.
If tests are successful, a vaccine could be available in the second half of 2021.
Sanofi said in its Wednesday tweet that its teams are making efforts to accelerate the development of a vaccine.
Many labs worldwide are involved in research to find a Covid-19 vaccine. Vaccines usually take years to develop.
“For us, it would be unacceptable for there to be privileged access to such and such a country for financial reasons,” Deputy Finance Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher told France’s Sud Radio.
The prime minister later tweeted that a vaccine should be for the benefit of everyone worldwide. President Emmanuel Macron said recent efforts proved that a vaccine should not be subject to market forces, the Elysée Palace said. He is due to meet top Sanofi officials next week.
Earlier this month, the EU chaired a global online summit to boost coronavirus research, and secured pledges of $8bn (£6.5bn) from some 40 countries and donors. The funding is aimed at developing a coronavirus vaccine and treatments for Covid-19.
The UK co-hosted the summit but the U.S. and Russia did not take part.
The EU insisted on Thursday that all countries should get equal access to a vaccine.
But in recent years, Sanofi has received tens of millions of euros in tax credits from the French government to help its research.
