(p. A7) Expanding its pursuit of an inoculation against the coronavirus, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday it would provide “up to $1.2 billion” to the drug company AstraZeneca to develop a potential vaccine from a laboratory at Oxford University.
The deal with AstraZeneca is the fourth and by far the largest vaccine research agreement that the department has disclosed. The money will pay for a Phase 3 clinical trial of a potential vaccine in the United States this summer with about 30,000 volunteers.
The H.H.S. statement said the agency and AstraZeneca “are collaborating to make available at least 300 million doses,” and projected that the first doses could be available as early as October [2020].
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In a separate statement, AstraZeneca said it had reached agreements with several governments and other organizations to produce at least 400 million doses, had “secured manufacturing capacity for one billion doses,” and will begin its first deliveries in September [2020].
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(Note: ellipsis, and bracketed years, added.)
(Note: the online version of the story was updated June 3 [sic], 2020 and has the title “$1.2 Billion From U.S. to Drugmaker to Pursue Coronavirus Vaccine.” The online version says that the title of the New York print version was “U.S. Gives Drugmaker $1.2 Billion Grant.” The title of my National print version was “Drugmaker Gets $1.2 Billion Grant From the U.S. to Develop a Vaccine.”)