Sanofi Partners with Johnson & Johnson to Support Production of Single-Dose COVID-19 Vaccine in Europe

Compiled by Fan Dongdong

Vaccine giant Sanofi has not abandoned hope for a COVID-19 vaccine despite setbacks in its mid-stage development, and continues to collaborate with competitors to help combat the global pandemic.

On Monday, Sanofi announced a production partnership with Johnson & Johnson to manufacture Johnson & Johnson’s adenovirus-vector COVID-19 vaccine in Europe.

Following the approval of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, Sanofi will utilize its facility in Marcy-l’Étoile, France, to assist Johnson & Johnson with vaccine production. Sanofi stated that personnel at the Marcy-l’Étoile plant will be responsible for formulating and bottling the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, with a production capacity of approximately 12 million doses per month. In a statement, Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson remarked that this collaboration “demonstrates Sanofi’s ongoing commitment to mobilizing global capabilities to bring this crisis to an end as soon as possible.”

It is worth noting that, according to the latest trial data recently released by Johnson & Johnson, a single dose of its vaccine is sufficient to prevent COVID-19. In contrast, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which have already been approved in the United States, require two doses administered three to four weeks apart. Furthermore, the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine can be stored for three months at standard refrigerator temperatures, avoiding the stringent ultra-cold freezing conditions required for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Given this significant logistical advantage, if the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can deliver on its promise of single-dose immunity, it will undoubtedly become a superior vaccine choice.

Johnson & Johnson has previously completed a large-scale Phase 3 vaccine trial and submitted the relevant data to regulatory authorities in the United States and Europe. The U.S. FDA is scheduled to vote on whether to grant emergency use authorization for the vaccine at an advisory committee meeting this Friday. Johnson & Johnson expects to supply 60 million doses of the vaccine by April this year.

At the end of last year, Sanofi had to delay its vaccine development efforts due to unsatisfactory trial progress. Shortly before reaching a vaccine collaboration agreement with Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi announced a partnership with Pfizer and BioNTech to assist the two companies in producing 100 million doses of mRNA vaccines. Sanofi will provide infrastructure and specialized production lines to help BioNTech manufacture more than 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in Europe in 2021. The first batch of contract-manufactured vaccine products will be delivered from Sanofi’s facility in Frankfurt, Germany, in August. Sanofi’s support will primarily focus on steps such as drug filling and packaging, with potential future cooperation involving the active ingredients of the vaccines, including necessary logistical support and technology transfer.

The urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic and shortages in supply capacity have spurred numerous partnerships among major pharmaceutical companies, with former rivals turning into collaborative alliances. For instance, Eli Lilly and Amgen partnered to produce antibody therapies to bolster Eli Lilly’s supply capacity. Roche assisted in the production of Regeneron’s COVID-19 antibody drug, REGN-COV2. Bayer, which has never produced vaccines in its nearly 160-year history, announced earlier this month that it would assist in producing CureVac’s mRNA vaccine, aiming to manufacture 300 million doses by 2021. Novartis will use its facility in Stein, Switzerland, to help produce the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Although Sanofi’s top priority is advancing its own two COVID-19 vaccine trial programs, the company recognizes that Pfizer and BioNTech, as well as Johnson & Johnson, are facing supply shortages in vaccine production. Sanofi stated that it could collaborate with other companies on vaccine manufacturing, provided it has appropriate manufacturing capacity and does not compromise the development of other essential medicines and vaccines.

Also on Monday, Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline announced the resumption of their COVID-19 vaccine trials. The two companies will collaborate to advance Phase II clinical trials, with Phase III trials expected to begin in the second quarter and the vaccine anticipated to be available in the fourth quarter. In addition to this program, Sanofi is collaborating with Translate Bio to develop an mRNA vaccine candidate, which is scheduled to enter Phase I/II clinical trials by the end of March.

In the early stages of vaccine development, it was widely believed outside China that Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, and another top vaccine giant, Merck & Co., would play significant roles in global immunization efforts. However, the actual progress of these companies fell far short of expectations. Instead, Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Novavax topped this year’s sales rankings for COVID-19 vaccines, with analysts indicating that each of their products has the potential to generate billions of dollars in revenue. Facing setbacks in its own vaccine R&D, Sanofi has opted to actively collaborate with other companies as a strategy to participate in the market.

Reference Source:

1.After Pfizer deal, Sanofi offers a hand to Johnson & Johnson for COVID-19 vaccine production

2.France's Sanofi to help Johnson & Johnson manufacture COVID-19 vaccine