MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd April, 2020) A group of three European biotech companies will join efforts to conduct clinical trials of a vaccine for the new coronavirus in the summer and produce 6 million doses by early 2021 if the trials succeed, according to their joint statement published on Thursday.
In the press release, Italy's ReiThera Srl. (Rome), Germany's LEUKOCARE AG and Belgium's Univercells S.A. announced a strategic collaboration for the development and large-scale manufacturing of a new COVID-19 vaccine.
"The vaccine candidate is expected to enter clinical trials during summer 2020 with large-scale vaccine production planned to start soon after," the statement said.
It added that approximately 6 million doses of the vaccine were expected to be available in early 2021, if the clinical trials prove to be successful.
As the global COVID-19 pandemic has shown little signs of slowing in many countries, the development of an effective vaccine has become a top priority for many pharmaceutical companies in the world.
Many countries have already announced plans to conduct clinical trials of new vaccines in the near future.
As of Thursday, the coronavirus has infected over 2.6 million people globally, with over 183,000 fatalities, according to John Hopkins University.
