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 The French drugmaker's chief executive, Paul Hudson, said on
Wednesday that vaccine doses produced in the United States could go
to U.S. patients first, given the country had supported the research
financially.
Sanofi, which had already flagged this possibility in recent weeks
and had urged stronger European coordination in the hunt for a
vaccine, has since clarified that it would be made available to all,
following a backlash in France in particular.
"It would of course be unacceptable for us if there were to be a
privileged access for this or that country under pretext of a
pecuniary motive, especially in the current context," Agnes Pannier-Runacher,
France's junior economy minister, told Sud Radio.
She said she had contacted the firm and received assurances that the
vaccine would be made available in all countries, including France,
where it has production sites.
"Evidently, if Sanofi makes a breakthrough on a vaccine for COVID-19
and it is efficient, it will be made available to all," Olivier
Bogillot, the head of Sanofi in France, told BFM TV on Thursday.
The controversy has raised questions, however, over whether Europe
has been too slow to respond in terms of organising and funding
vaccine research, and Sanofi reiterated on Thursday that the United
States had moved more quickly in this regard.
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Sanofi added that it was in talks with the European Union and the French and
German governments to expedite regional vaccine development.
The company, whose Pasteur division has an established track record of producing
influenza vaccines, teamed up with British rival GlaxoSmithKline Plc last month
to come up with a vaccine candidate it hopes will be ready next year.
The companies have received financial support from the Biomedical Advanced
Research and Development Authority (BARDA) of the U.S. Health Department.
Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux, the head of France' business lobby Medef, said that
Europe could still catch up and ensure it gets access to a vaccine in a timely
manner, but that the quick U.S. action had shone a spotlight on its response.
"It adds to this debate ... on Europe's ability to act collectively," Roux de
Bezieux told BFM Business.
(Reporting by Henri-Pierre Andre and Jean-Stephane Brosse, Writing by Sarah
White and Benoit Van Overstraeten: Editing by Nick Macfie)
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