AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) has announced an agreement with Europe's Inclusive Vaccines Alliance (IVA) to supply up to 400 million doses of the University of Oxford's coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine.
Deliveries will begin at the end of 2020 and the pharma giant will not make a profit, although manufacturing costs are expected to be offset by state funding.
READ: Why do vaccine trials take so long?
The IVA, headed by Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, is looking to accelerate the supply of the vaccine and to make it available to other European countries, which total 446mln inhabitants.
The FTSE 100-listed pharma giant has boosted capacity to produce 2bn doses of the vaccine candidate developed at Oxford.
The final phase of trials is underway, involving 10,000 volunteers in 18 centres across the UK, while other late-stage trials are due in other countries.
“AstraZeneca recognises that the vaccine may not work but is committed to progressing the clinical programme with speed and scaling up manufacturing at risk,” the firm said.
Shares were flat at 8,189p early on Monday.