Novavax and Janssen commit 90 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to UK Government with two new deals

pharmafile | August 14, 2020 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing |  COVID-19, J&J, JJ, Novavax, UK, pharma 

The UK Government has signed a new deal with Johnson & Johnson and Novavax to secure 90 million orders of their vaccine candidates to protect against COVID-19 infection.  

One of the announced deals was to reserve 30 million doses of Ad26.COV2.S, the COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by Janssen, the pharmaceutical subsidiary of J&J, for not-for-profit emergency pandemic use. As part of the deal, the UK Government has the option to purchase a further 22 million doses of the vaccine if required.

The deal with Janssen also includes the UK Government’s commitment to co-funding a global Phase 3 clinical trial of the candidate.

The second, separate deal signed with Novavax earmarked a further 60 million doses of the US biotech’s candidate, and will also help support a Phase 3 study of the drug in partnership with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

These latest two deals bring the UK’s total number of signed agreements concerning the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines to six, meaning they are tied with the US for the greatest number of deals signed by any nation worldwide. In total, the UK has reserved 362 million doses across four different types of therapy candidates. There are around 66 million people living in the UK.

Matt Fellows