Exclusive: EU in early talks with Italy's ReiThera over potential
vaccine supply deal - source
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[September 21, 2020]
By Emilio Parodi and Caroline Copley
MILAN/BERLIN (Reuters) - Italian biotech
ReiThera is in early talks with the European Union about supplying the
bloc with its potential COVID-19 vaccine, a source close to the company
said, the latest attempt by Brussels to secure shots as the fight
against the pandemic intensifies.
The discussions come as Brussels seeks to raise more money to shore up
supplies of potential inoculations amid concerns demand next year might
exceed supply.
The talks with ReiThera, which is developing a vaccine together with
Germany's Leukocare and Belgium's Univercells, means the European
Commission is now speaking with seven vaccine makers including Johnson &
Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer and CureVac about possible supply deals.
On Friday, the European Commission reached an agreement with Sanofi and
GSK to buy up to 300 million doses following one with AstraZeneca for up
to 400 million doses.
The source said ReiThera was in preliminary talks with the EU, but said
the outcome remained unclear.
"We are negotiating, but we do not yet have news of the outcome of the
negotiations," said the source, who declined to be identified due to the
confidentiality of the discussions.
A spokesperson for the European Commision declined to comment on the
status of its talks with drugmakers.
Leukocare said in a statement the consortium was currently negotiating
with various governments and organisations and declined to give further
details on the individual talks.
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European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission
headquarters in Brussels, Belgium August 21, 2020. REUTERS/Yves
Herman/File Photo
ReiThera declined to comment while Univercells did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
ReiThera is developing a vaccine based on a so-called
non-replicating adenoviral vector. This is the same technology being
used in the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
The single-dose vaccine, which uses a simian adenovirus that only
appears in gorillas, is currently being tested on 90 volunteers in
Italy in a phase I trial with results expected by the end of the
year.
A phase 2/3 trial in countries with high rates of infection is
planned to start in late 2020, depending on the outcome of the
early-stage trial.
(Reporting by Emilio Parodi in Milan and Caroline Copley in Berlin;
Additional reporting by Francesco Guarascio in Brussels and Ludwig
Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Josephine Mason and Emelia
Sithole-Matarise)
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