Sanofi and Translate Bio to jointly produce mRNA Covid-19 vaccine
French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi S.A. is reportedly expanding its collaboration with Translate Bio, a U.S-based mRNA therapeutics company to develop a wide range of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines against Covid-19. The financial valuation of the new enhanced partnership deal is reported to be USD 2.8 billion.
For those uninitiated, Translate Bio is a leading company that offers mRNA technology which enables human cells to produce specific proteins which help in boosting the immunity system against specific diseases.
Sources close to the matter stated that the deal allows Sanofi to strengthen its position in the race to discover effective and safe vaccine for coronavirus, which has killed around 472,000 people across the globe.
The deal will also provide Sanofi up to 7.2 percent of the Translate Bio’s business as well as exclusive global rights to produce, manufacture, and distribute the vaccine, sources claimed.
Sanofi mentioned in a comment that it expects its mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine to enter clinical trails by the end of the year, and if successful, will acquire regulatory approval by next year.
Translate Bio will evidently secure an upfront payment of around USD 425 million, which comprises of USD 300 million in cash and stocks worth USD 125 million, sources claimed.
The Massachusetts-based biotech company is also apparently eligible to avail the benefits from further potential milestones as well as other payments of around USD 1.9 billion. According to reliable sources, the deal will make Sanofi the fourth-largest shareholder of Translate Bio.
The two companies are also developing Covid-19 vaccine with Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline, which is expected to receive approval by first half of next year, cite sources.
In other news, China-based Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products publicized that it would soon begin its human trials for recently approved Covid-19 vaccine.
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Nikita Chaurasia
Having always been daft at wordplay, Nikita Chaurasia, post the completion of post-graduation, commenced her journey into the content generation cosmos. Endowed with a professional MBA degree in Advertising and Public Relations, Nikita strives to integrate her creative side with the technical compet...