Sanofi eyes an early nod to Covid vaccine

GENEVA/LONDON: French drugmaker Sanofi expects to win approvalforacovid-19vaccinein the first half of next year as it strengthensapactwithtranslate Bio Inc. to develop other shots in a deal that could be valued at as much as $2.3 billion.

Theexperimentalcoronavirus vaccine that Sanofi is developing with Glaxosmithkline Plc was previously targeting approval in the second half of 2021.

Sanofi’s programwithglaxois oneofdozenssprinting to deliver a vaccine to help end the pandemic. Otherslike the university of Oxford, working with AstraZeneca Plc, Moderna Inc. and Cansino Biologics Inc. have already started testing their experimental shots in humans, placing them ahead of the pack.

Sanofiandglaxoplantostarta study compressing the early and middle stages of clinical tests in

September. The Paris-based pharmagianthasaseparatecoronavirusvaccinecandidateunder developmentwithtranslatebio, which uses so-called messenger RNA technology to prompt the body to make a key protein from the virus, sparking an immune response.

Sanofi will pay $425 million upfront, partly by acquiring Translate Bio shares at a premium of almost 60%, the companies said. Thefrenchdrugmaker agreed to pay as much as $1.9 billion uponmeetingvariousgoals, plus royalties.

Translate Bio shares almost doubledinuspremarkettrading, to ashighas$31.16. Sanofi waslittle changed in Paris trading.

Translate Bio and Sanofi formed an alliance and license agreement in 2018 to develop MRNA vaccines for infectious diseases.