Stefano Valentino

The vaccine sector stays within the palms of the giants of the pharmaceutical business. Throughout a European Council video convention on February 25-26, the 27 heads of state and authorities did not take a tough line in opposition to Massive Pharma’s monopoly. Producers retain management over provide, costs and revenues.

Nevertheless, along with their very own factories, the pharmaceutical business giants additionally depend on smaller, specialised firms positioned in a number of European nations. These small companies obtain a share of the roughly € 30 billion that taxpayers in Member States can pay for his or her vaccine provides. Proper now, each penny stays in that inside circle.

The announcement that, pending the top of medical trials and the approval by the European Medicines Company of its personal vaccine (developed with GSK), Sanofi has dedicated to co-produce the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines is simply the tip of the iceberg. Our investigation reveals a dense community between the giants who’ve signed provide contracts with the European Fee. Along with Sanofi / GSK, the signatories embrace Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer / Biontech, AstraZeneca and Moderna, the latter three having already had their vaccines authorized and marketed. Johnson & Johnson product approval is anticipated after successful the EMA advice final week.

As well as, the American firm Novavax, the French firm Valneva and the Italian firm Reithera, with which Brussels has already began negotiations, will even be added to this checklist of firms with provide contracts.

Attainable successive reductions in AstraZeneca’s provide (60% and 50% reductions within the first and second quarters of 2021, respectively), Pfizer’s delays, in addition to Sanofi’s delayed medical trials, are prone to sluggish each the vaccination marketing campaign and the financial restoration of the Member States.

Nevertheless, the textual content of the European Council conclusions merely calls on firms to make sure predictability and respect supply deadlines. It’s not steered to drive firms to share applied sciences and licenses in order that third events can produce and distribute vaccines themselves, aside from firms which might be already a part of their non-public chain.

Based on new leaks on the eve of the summit, such a method to take care of the provision disaster had been mentioned behind the scenes. “EU regulation affords sure flexibility for the issuance of obligatory licenses in case of emergency “, anticipated Miriam Garcìa Ferrer, spokesperson for the Fee for Commerce, initially of February. Based on the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the EU might in reality resort to artwork. 122 of the EU Treaty, which permits distinctive interventions within the occasion of a scarcity of important items. If invoked, patent exclusivity would fall and new firms might enter the race for vaccine manufacturing. The pharmaceutical giants would see their market share eroded, whereas the general provide for residents would enhance.

Through the listening to of the European Parliament which befell in parallel with the Council assembly, the businesses in query expressed their opposition to the systematic switch of information to 3rd events not forming a part of their very own partnerships, deeming it too pricey.

For now, EU leaders appear glad with the aforementioned partnerships, that are repeatedly monitored by the European Fee. The businesses involved subcontract a number of phases of the manufacturing chain, that are primarily three: creation, formulation (stabilization) and bottling of the vaccine. There are at the moment about fifty such agreements.

Germany hosts the most important share of manufacturing amenities: greater than 25 p.c of all factories working on the continent. Many of the German websites work for Pfizer / Biontech, which, along with its compatriot Curevac, owns 40% of all European factories (making an allowance for each its personal websites and people of subcontractors).

Second, when it comes to the variety of factories positioned respectively inside nationwide borders and within the cross-border provide chain, are France and AstraZeneca. The latter is nothing if not cosmopolitan, working in six nations. The Anglo-Swedish multinational and different pharmaceutical teams can depend on 9 websites alone. There are additionally about 30 firms engaged on behalf of third events, a few of that are engaged on vaccines for a number of firms on the identical time.

Greater than half of the subcontracted websites are positioned in Germany, France and Belgium, and 80% of the businesses are German, French, Spanish, American or British (the latter being positioned solely in the UK). Probably the most energetic subcontracting unit is the French firm Fareva, which bottles the vaccine for Curevac in three completely different institutions, whereas in one other it creates the vaccine for Sanofi / GSK. With a number of orders every, they’re adopted by their compatriots Delpharm and Recipharm, the Austrian Polymun, the German Idt Biologika, Siegfried, Rentschler, in addition to the Individuals Baxter and Catalent.

In competitors with these smaller firms, GSK additionally continues to forge new alliances, as evidenced by its three way partnership with Curevac to supply the German firm’s new vaccine variant at its UK plant.

This text was a part of the “Who Advantages from the Covid-19 Pandemic” venture supported by Investigative journalism for the EU.