6 August 2020 

Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutical entered into an agreement with the US Government for the large scale domestic production and supply of 100 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, Ad26.COV2.S. The government committed to provide more than $1bn for the deal, and may buy an additional 200 million doses of the vaccine in the future.

Moderna has priced smaller volume agreements for its potential Covid-19 vaccine at between $32 and $37 per dose. Larger volume agreements for the vaccine will be priced lower, the company said. The vaccine candidate is currently in a Phase III trial, which is designed to enrol approximately 30,000 participants.

Zydus Cadila has launched Phase II clinical trials of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, ZyCoV-D, which showed promise in a Phase I study. The company completed dosing in the Phase I trial, where the vaccine was found to be safe and well tolerated in healthy participants. An independent Data Safety Monitoring Board endorsed the seven day safety of the vaccine in all the Phase I participants, noted the company.

Pfizer and BioNTech have agreed to supply their BNT162 Covid-19 vaccine candidate to the Canadian Government, contingent on clinical success and regulatory approval. Financial terms of the agreement were based on the delivery timing and the volume of doses. Deliveries are expected to occur over the course of next year.

Serum Institute of India has signed a supply and licence agreement to develop and commercialise Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate. The deal will provide Serum Institute with exclusive rights to the vaccine in India during the agreement period and non-exclusive rights during the pandemic in all other countries, which are designated as upper-middle or high-income.

VBI Vaccines’ Canadian unit Variation Biotechnologies has received up to a CA$56m funding from the government for the development of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, VBI-2900, through Phase II clinical studies. In addition, the company will leverage the funds to finalise manufacturing process development and expand the workforce at its research and development facility in Ottawa.