World's Largest Vaccine Producer To Produce One Billion Vaccine

The company with the world's largest vaccine maker has laid out plans on Thursday to produce one billion doses of vaccine boosters for the lethal coronavirus shots for the coming year, as coronavirus vaccine cure heats up.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said it was in talks with governments to back the manufacturing expansion of the boosters, that would help to speed up production of future vaccines for the coronavirus. 

The adjuvant could be a very important ingredient in at least seven experimental vaccines against the lethal virus currently being globally.

The British drugmaker would not disclose the programme's costs, saying only that production would take place at sites in Europe and North America and that it would reinvest any profit into coronavirus research and preparation for future pandemics.

The company is one of the many global players working on projects to counter the respiratory illness that currently has no treatment and has killed about 350,000 people.

"It is believed that more than one vaccine will be needed to address this global pandemic and we are working with partners around the world to do to achieve this," said GSK Global Vaccines President Roger Connor. 

As well as its collaboration with Sanofi, GSK has contributed the adjuvant to alliances involving Chinese biotech firms Clover Biopharmaceuticals and Xiamen Innovax, as well as the University of Queensland, Australia.