France has lashed out at Paris-based pharmaceutical company Sanofi after one of its top executives in the UK claimed that the United States would receive priority access to its COVID-19 vaccine, sparking contrary assurances from the firm's chief in France that the vaccine would not be prioritized and would be available for every country
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th May, 2020) France has lashed out at Paris-based pharmaceutical company Sanofi after one of its top executives in the UK claimed that the United States would receive priority access to its COVID-19 vaccine, sparking contrary assurances from the firm's chief in France that the vaccine would not be prioritized and would be available for every country.
The row between Sanofi and Elysee emerged after Sanofi's British CEO, Paul Hudson, told Bloomberg on Wednesday that the US would be the first country to receive a COVID-19 vaccine once it is found because the US authorities invested financially to support the antiviral research of the French pharmaceutical giant. His statement drew outrage from French health associations and officials.
"For us [French government], it would be unacceptable that there would be privileged access [of the vaccine in the US] for financial reasons," French Secretary of State for the Economy Agnes Pannier-Runacher told Sud Radio on Thursday.
Sanofi launched a joint project with the British company, GlaxoSmithKline, to develop a COVID-19 vaccine in April 2020. The research is being funded in part by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) of the American Department of Health and Human Services.
Pannier-Runacher recalled that Sanofi has received support from France over recent years.
She added that she had contacted the chief of Sanofi's French department, Olivier Bogillot, who assured her that the vaccine would be available to every state, and France primarily, since the pharmaceutical company has production capacity there.
As for research itself, Bogillot confirmed that the goal remains to develop a usable vaccine within 18 to 24 months. He also stressed that such a schedule is extremely accelerated compared to normal, which is around a decade.
As of Thursday, France has registered 178,184 coronavirus cases with 27,077 deaths and 58,786 recoveries. The US currently has the highest total in the world, with 1.39 million cases overall, including 84,136 fatalities and 243,430 recoveries.
