France's Pharma Giant Sanofi To Put Its COVID-19 Vaccine On Market By June - Official

France's Pharma Giant Sanofi to Put Its COVID-19 Vaccine on Market by June - Official

French pharmaceutical company Sanofi is planning to make its COVID-19 vaccine available by June 2021, the company's CEO in France, Olivier Bogillot, told the CNEWS media outlet

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2020) French pharmaceutical company Sanofi is planning to make its COVID-19 vaccine available by June 2021, the company's CEO in France, Olivier Bogillot, told the CNEWS media outlet.

Bogillot comfirmed that the results of the ongoing second phase of clinical trials of the Sanofi vaccine are "convincing," adding that the company is considering the possibility of launching both the third phase of the trials and production of the vaccine in December. In case the third phase, which is scheduled to end in May, proves inconclusive, Bogillot explained, the company believes it would be able to launch the sales of the doses in June.

Last week, German biotechnology firm BioNTech and US pharmaceutical company Pfizer reported a successful third phase of clinical trials of their COVID-19 vaccine, saying it was proved to be 90 percent effective. However, storage of the vaccine is carried out at a temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius, which health experts considered to be problematic due to warm climate in some parts of the world.

Bogillot clarified that the vaccine against the coronavirus disease would be eligible to be stored in the fridge, like those against the flu. He also said that some issues, including the number of injections and the necessity of the annual vaccinations are yet to be resolved.

Sanofi develops the COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with UK's pharmaceutical company GSK. It is a combined product of the recombinant protein-based technology used by Sanofi for an influenza vaccine, and GSK's established pandemic adjuvant technology.