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Macron to meet Sanofi CEO after U-turn on 'US priority' for Covid-19 vaccine

By RFI
France REUTERS - Charles Platiau
MAY 15, 2020 LISTEN
REUTERS - Charles Platiau

President Emmanuel Macron is to meet the boss of Sanofi next Tuesday, after the French multinational pharmaceutical company was forced to backpedal on comments that the United States could be the first to receive a future Covid-19 vaccine it developed.

There was outrage in France after comments by Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson on Wednesday that vaccine doses produced in the US would go to US patients first because the country had funded the research.

The company was forced to declare it would ensure any future vaccine reached all regions of the world at the same time, and suggested the earlier comments by Hudson had been “altered”.

"There will be no particular advance given to any country," Serge Weinberg, chairman of the French pharmaceutical giant, told France 2 television.

"We are organised into several manufacturing units. Some of them are in the United States but even more of them are in Europe and France."

Politicians across the political spectrum had lined up earlier in the day to criticise any US priority access. French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe stressed that Sanofi was “profoundly French” and warned that equal access to a vaccine was “non-negotiable”.

Sanofi has 18 production sites in France and operates in 31 other countries.

'Reassured'

French Health Minister Olivier Véran said he had been "reassured" by a conversation with the head of Sanofi, describing Hudson's comments on Wednesday as “clumsy”.

"I believe it was a phrase, as far as I can understand, that was a bit clumsy, and perhaps taken out of context," Veran told C News television.

Hudson has, however, used the row to push his desire for a faster, more collaborative European effort in the hunt for a vaccine against Covid-19.

"I have been campaigning on European readiness to treat Covid-19 for months, building capacity in Europe, making sure we are ready, getting governments in the EU aligned," Hudson told an event organised by the Financial Times.

Sanofi is working on two vaccine projects against Covid-19. One is with British rival GlaxoSmithKline Plc that has received financial support from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) of the US Health Department. The other with US company Translate Bio will use a different technology.

Hudson said Europe lacked a body akin to BARDA.
"That model does not exist in Europe," he said, even though there was support from governments to establish one.

There is currently no vaccine and no known treatment for Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. Drugmakers are racing to develop what would be a lucrative prize, but have sought financial support to mitigate the risks.

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