Glaxo pledges 1 billion doses of jab booster

GLAXOSMITHKLINE has delivered a major boost in the search for Covid-19 vaccines, vowing to pump out one billion doses of a special chemical to improve their effectiveness.

As the race to develop a cure accelerated, the British drug maker said its adjuvant technology would help make supplies of successful vaccines go further when they are ready.

Adjuvants create longer-lasting immunity against infections and allow smaller amounts of a virus to be used in a vaccine, making largescale production easier.

Glaxo is in talks with governments to increase its output of the booster ingredient to help scale up production of any future Covid-19 vaccines.

It could prove crucial in at least seven of the experimental jabs being looked at by scientists, including one proposed by French pharma group Sanofi, with whom Glaxo signed a collaboration deal last month. The company would not disclose the adjuvant programme’s costs yesterday, saying only that production would take place in Europe and North America.

Roger Connor, Glaxo’s global vaccines president, said: ‘We believe that more than one vaccine will be needed to address this pandemic and we are working with partners around the world to do so.’

Efforts to find a vaccine have been speeded up compared to normal standards, with treatments usually taking as long as a decade to reach patients.

The Government has pledged more than £1.5bn towards international efforts, while President Trump has ordered US scientists to try and produce one before the end of the year in a scheme dubbed Operation Warp Speed.

Glaxo’s rival Astrazeneca leaped to poll position in the race last month when it signed a deal to distribute Oxford University’s potential vaccine, which is seen as the most advanced so far. As well as its collaboration with Sanofi, Glaxo has contributed to the efforts of Chinese biotech firms Clover Biopharmaceuticals and Xiamen Innovax, as well as the University of Queensland, Australia. But despite the vast resources being poured into research efforts – including millions of pounds from Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates – Glaxo boss Emma Walmsley (pictured) has warned that a jab will still not be widely available until the second half of next year at the earliest. She said last month: ‘Everyone will mobilise to go fast, but this is not an easy undertaking and it is not just about when it is ready – it is when it can be manufactured at scale.’