Vaccines – Photo © European Union
(BRUSSELS) – The EU concluded exploratory talks with U.S. based company Moderna Monday to purchase a potential vaccine against COVID-19 – the fifth company with which the Commission has concluded talks.
Moderna is the fifth company with which the Commission has concluded talks, following Sanofi-GSK on 31 July, Johnson & Johnson on 13 August, CureVac on 18 August, in addition to the signature of an Advance Purchase Agreement with AstraZeneca on 14 August.
The envisaged contract with Moderna would provide for the possibility for all EU Member States to purchase the vaccine, as well as to donate to lower and middle income countries or re-direct to European countries.
It is expected that the EU executive will have a contractual framework in place for the initial purchase of 80 million doses on behalf of all EU Member States, plus an option to purchase up to a further 80 million doses, to be supplied once a vaccine has proven to be safe and effective against COVID-19. The Commission says it is pursuing intensive discussions with other vaccine manufacturers.
EC president Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the Commission is continuing talks with other companies “as we want to make sure that vaccines are rapidly available on the market.”
She also stressed again that “European investments in coronavirus vaccines will benefit the whole world”.
Moderna is a U.S. based company pioneering the development of a new class of vaccines based on messenger RNA (mRNA). mRNA plays a fundamental role in human biology, transferring the instructions which direct cells in the body to make proteins, including proteins that may prevent or fight disease.
The exploratory talks are intended to result in an ‘Advance Purchase Agreement’ to be financed with the EU’s Emergency Support Instrument, which has funds dedicated to the creation of a portfolio of potential vaccines with different profiles and produced by different companies.
