EU AstraZeneca vaccine targets hinge on EMA approval for Leiden based manufacturer
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) must approve the supply by the Leiden drug manufacturer and subcontractor HALIX if the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca wants to meet its delivery expectations to the European Union this quarter. This would appear from an internal document that the Reuters news agency has seen.
AstraZeneca expects in its schedule that HALIX will receive the green light from the EMA on March 25. The Leiden company is one of four production centers with which AstraZeneca has an agreement for the production and delivery of its corona vaccine to Europe.
The EMA did not want to confirm to Reuters whether HALIX has received the green light, but it did want to confirm that the Leiden factory is still awaiting approval. The drug manufacturer itself was unreachable on Saturday.
If HALIX receives EMA approval, AstraZeneca promised to deliver 10 million vaccines in the last week of March.
The British pharmaceutical company is counting on a maximum of 30 million vaccines for this quarter. That is ten million less than a month ago and more than 50 million less than what the EU initially anticipated.
Of the four production centers that can deliver to Europe, only one factory in Belgium currently provides the supply. The other two producers are located in the UK and have not yet exported to the EU.
