France pledges funding UK begins coronavirus vaccine trial

London, Jun 16 (AP) The French government announced more than 800 million euros ($890 million) in investment Tuesday as part of the worldwide race to find an effective vaccine.

French President Emmanuel Macron visited a Sanofi lab Tuesday alongside CEO Paul Hudson, and announced 200 million euros in government investments to reduce France's dependence on other countries for vaccines and other medicines.

Macron said France will "relocalize" production of some drugs as part of broader government efforts to revive the virus-battered economy and bring more manufacturing production back to France.

Last month, Sanofi prompted outrage in France by promising to give the United States first access to the company's eventual vaccine, because the U.S. had invested more in its research. Sanofi later backtracked and said it would be available in all countries.

Macron has pushed for vaccines to be considered a "common good" for humanity that must not be subject to market pressures.

The Imperial vaccine uses synthetic strands of genetic code based on the virus. Once injected into the muscle, the body's own cells are instructed to make copies of a spiky protein on the coronavirus. That should in turn trigger an immune response so the body can fight off any future COVID-19 infection.

Dr. Doug Brown, chief executive of the British Society for Immunology, said the technology used by Imperial College London should theoretically lead to long-term immunity against the coronavirus but now needs to go through rigorous testing. He was not linked to the trial.

Oxford University recently began an advanced study involving 10,000 volunteers, and the U.S. is preparing for even larger studies in July that involve 30,000 people each testing different candidates, including Oxford's and one made by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc.

Scientists have never created vaccines from scratch this fast and it's far from clear that any will ultimately prove safe and effective. Still, numerous countries, including Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.S., have already placed advance orders for millions of vaccines.

Shattock said the Imperial vaccine, if effective, would not be licensed to any particular pharmaceutical, but various manufacturing partners around the world would be given permission to produce it as part of a "social business" that does not make any profits.

"We can't provide it at no cost because it takes money to make," he said. "We'll provide it at cost of goods with a small percentage -and that small percentage will vary depending on the economic status of the country." The World Health Organization noted Monday about 100,000 new infections have been reported every day for the past two weeks and that relaxed lockdown restrictions in many countries have led to a new surge of cases. (AP) RS RS RS