Details of the deal between the government and AstraZeneca have been revealed

Argentina paid AstraZeneca $ 92 million for more than 22 million doses. The details of the sealed agreement between the national state and the UK-based laboratory explain this pact violated by the international firm and which National Justice has been investigating since last week.

The contract specifies that the “seller” is the company AstraZeneca UK Limited incorporated in Cambridge, England, which has partnered with the University of Oxford to manufacture a vaccine against COVID-19, initially called ChAdOx1 nCov- 19; later known as AZD1222, and eventually changed its final name to AstraZeneca COVID-19, according to information published in Infobae.

For this operation – 22,429,842 million total doses – Argentina has prepaid US $ 92 million, although the country has not yet received a vaccine under this contract. Those that arrived were just over a million doses of AstraZeneca through the COVAX mechanism, an international fund set up for a more equitable distribution of vaccines in all countries.

The agreement also envisaged the participation of the Insud Group, of Argentinian origin, for the development of the active principle of the vaccine in the biotechnological biology of mAbxience. And the packaging and distribution of another laboratory in Mexico, Liomont.

The contractual commitment includes only two companies: AstraZeneca and the national government. In other words, neither of the two Latin American labs involved in the process seems to seal the deal.

The seller is in the figure of Astrazeneka UK Limited, a company incorporated in Cambridge, England, associated with the University of Oxford for the manufacture of a COVID-19 vaccine, signed by Greg Mueller.

At the point of purchase is the Ministry of Health of the Nation and the signatory was the then Minister of Health: Ginés González García, and two senior officials appointed by the State, the Director of Access and of Governmental Affairs for Argentina, Germán de la Llave and the Under-Secretary for Administrative Management, Mauricio Monsalvo.

Hugo Sigman, owner of Grupo Insud, which manufactures the fundamental active principle by mAbxcience, is not one of the signatories and is not mentioned in the rest of the contract.

The contract also establishes that it will be governed by the laws in force in Argentina and by the original manufacturer.

“The contract signed in 2020 was very specific on the millions of doses that were to reach the country in stages and gradually, and until the 22.4 million total doses were completed: in March 2021, 2,382 billion vaccines expected to arrive in April 4,040,000 million; in May, an additional 4,040,000 million, 3,451,000 million in June and 8,518,000 million in July. It bears repeating that to date, none of the promised doses have arrived in the country, ”said the Infobae note.

The survey also underlines that “the agreement that the Ministry of Health signed with AstraZeneca specified that the doses had to be provided according to the Incoterm DPU modality; The acronyms designate in English the term “Delivered at Place Unloaded”, which in Spanish means “Delivered at the Place Unloaded”, in this case from Mexico (distribution center), during the first semester of 2021 “.

The contract cautions that the buyer was responsible for transferring from the port of entry to the next point of destination in their territory, and that they should waive any claims against AstraZeneca resulting from the lack of safety or efficacy of the vaccine and ‘use. or administration of the vaccine.

According to the information portal, the estimated purchase price in the contract between the parties (AstraZeneca-Argentine State) was worth US $ 4 for each dose. This is the estimated final cost of the 22,429,842 million vaccines purchased by the Argentine government, including others, US $ 92 million.

The 22.4 million dose contract between the Argentine state and AstraZeneca establishes a price called Ex Factory. The parties acknowledge that it was calculated with the information available on the date of entry into force and that it may vary, but mechanisms are in place so that, in the event of this eventuality, the buyer can proceed. to the necessary adjustments.

And it is specified that this estimated price is valid, for the firm order and for the total doses, as long as it is presented before the date of emergency approval of the vaccine.

Regarding technology transfer, the scientific group Insud -by mAbxience- sent 25 million doses of the essential active ingredient to Mexico in the first stage of the formulation of these vaccines. And it has never stopped producing its lots normally to meet the deadlines set in the contracts.

AstraZeneca has declared itself the sole owner of all intellectual property rights generated during the development, manufacture and supply of the vaccine, including all technological know-how.

The contract and its details are the subject of a federal justice investigation following a complaint filed by the individual Josefina de Elizalde – by Republican Joint Action – who accused both parties of the delay in arrival of the doses set out in the agreement. The case is under the responsibility of judge Julián Ercolini and the investigation of prosecutor Guillermo Marijuán. (N / A)