AstraZeneca protected from future product liability claims for COVID-19 vaccine

AstraZeneca has been granted protection from future product liability claims related to its COVID-19 vaccine.

With 25 companies testing their vaccine candidates on humans and getting ready to immunise hundred millions of people once the products are shown to work, the question of who pays for any claims for damages in case of side-effects has been a tricky point in supply negotiations.

AstraZeneca senior executive team member Ruud Dobber told Reuters, “This is a unique situation where we as a company simply cannot take the risk if in four years the vaccine is showing side effects.

“In the contracts we have in place, we are asking for indemnification. For most countries it is acceptable to take that risk on their shoulders because it is in their national interest,” he said, adding that Astra and regulators were making safety and tolerability a top priority.

According to Reuters, product liability was among the contentious points in European efforts to secure supply deals for potential COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson.

The US, however, already has a law to exclude tort claims from products that help control a public-health crises in the form of the 2005 Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act. AstraZeneca is Britain’s second-largest drug maker and has pledged to supply a total of more than 2bn doses at no profit in agreements with the US, Britain and European countries, among other nations and organisations.

AstraZeneca’s deals differ from most other vaccine developers because it has secured government backing for production and development efforts, while competitors such as GlaxoSmithKline are looking to negotiate a price for a finished product, contingent on approval.

Source: Asia Insurance Review

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