An agreement on the price of the doses is to be hammered out at a later date. Like others, the Australian agreement is contingent on the AstraZeneca/Oxford candidate completing the remaining studies successfully and receiving approval from the relevant authorities.

The British-Swedish drugmaker, which has begun Phase 2/3 clinical trials with its candidate, relying on thousands of volunteers across several countries, plans to release results of the ongoing trials later this year.

An important part of the arrangement with Australia calls for the vaccine to be produced locally. As the main manufacturer, the government has its eyes on Melbourne-based CSL Behring, a company whose roots partly part go back to the German Nobel prize-winner Emil von Behring. However, prime minister Scott Morrison said talks will be held with other Covid-19 vaccine developers about other supply deals.

CSL is currently developing a vaccine of its own, in partnership with Australia’s University of Queensland, and has told international media this project will have priority. The company aims to make at least 100 million doses of the Queensland vaccine by the end of 2021.

Under a recent funding agreement with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), founded in 2017 to develop vaccines aimed at dealing with future epidemics, CSL said it plans to scale up its own production but may also outsource.

Both vaccine candidates are produced in mammalian cells. For the AstraZeneca vaccine, CSL said it is assessing the viability of options ranging from the fill and finish of bulk product imported into to Australia through to manufacture of the vaccine candidate under license. Talks about technology transfer are said to be in progress.

AstraZeneca has already signed supply agreements with authorities in all major world regions.  The drugmaker plans to produce at least 3 billion doses of the vaccine, with the first deliveries starting as early as September this year.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist