A Brussels court forced AstraZeneca to hand over …

A court of first instance in Brussels, Belgium, this Friday forced the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca respect the delivery schedule of their coronavirus vaccines agreed with the 27 countries of the European Union (EU).

“This decision confirms the Commission’s position: AstraZeneca has not honored the commitments it made in the contract. It’s good to see an independent judge confirming this, ”European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.

As indicated by the Commission, the judgment determined that the Anglo-Swedish laboratory must deliver “urgently” 50 million doses of its vaccine against the coronavirus, of which 15 million must be in the hands of the EU on July 26 “at 9:00 am” Brussels time.

This batch will be followed by a second delivery of 23 million doses for August 23 and a third of 15 million for September 23.

“In the event of non-compliance with these delivery deadlines, AstraZeneca will have to pay a penalty of 10 euros per dose not administered”The European Commission pointed out, which had denounced the pharmaceutical company for unilateral breach of the contract, missing the promised deliveries.

Following this line, the Commission clarified that the court’s decision “on the provisional measures requested is based on the fact that AstraZeneca has committed a serious breach (“gross negligence”) of its contractual obligations towards the EU “.

“The court also considers that AstraZeneca should have made every effort to deliver the vaccines within the agreed deadlines, including the UK production sites explicitly mentioned in the contract, in particular given the long delivery times to the EU”, added the Commission.

In August 2020, the European Commission and AstraZeneca signed a confidential contract stipulating that the drug maker must use “its best reasonable efforts” to deliver 300 million doses in the first half of 2021.

Last January, AstraZeneca announced that delays and tensions between the two sides were increasing publicly, until Brussels brought the company to justice.

While other vaccine developers acquired by the Commission also encountered various delivery issues, such as Moderna or Pfizer, the Commission suspected AstraZeneca, which produces and distributes the vaccine designed by the University of Oxford, of diverting doses committed to other countries. with the EU, in particular the UK.

The complaint gave rise to two parallel legal proceedings, one of an urgent nature in the face of the health emergency, the conviction of which was pronounced this Friday, and an ordinary procedure, in which the court undertook to analyze in depth the case and in which Brussels is claiming compensation, which is scheduled for a first hearing in September and whose failure is not expected before 2022.

In the urgent trial, the EU wanted the judge to determine a breach of contract and force AstraZeneca to deliver 120 million doses by June and the total of 300 million in September.

AstraZeneca, which has denied violating the contract and said the delays were due to the complexity of mass-producing a new vaccine in such a short time, said it could deliver 100 million in June.

However, the company also celebrated the recent ruling in a statement, in which it stressed that the Belgian court is committed to delivering 80.2 million doses by September.

In this sense, she considered that the court understood that the Commission did not have an “exclusive right” on laboratory vaccines, while stressing that the award recognizes the difficulty of producing a vaccine in record time.

“We are satisfied with the court ruling. AstraZeneca has fully honored its agreement with the European Commission and we will continue to focus on the urgent task of delivering an effective vaccine., which we deliver on a non-profit basis to help protect people in Europe and around the world from the deadliest pandemic in a generation, ”said Jeffrey Pott, general counsel for AstraZeneca.