EU launches new law suite against AstraZenca for failing to deliver vaccine supplies

EU opens new front in AstraZeneca legal fight that may lead to fines The European Union launched a new lawsuit against AstraZeneca on Tuesday that could lead to financial sanctions for the company which the EU alleges has breached a supply contract for COVID-19 vaccines. Francesco Guarascio Reuters

The European Union launched a new lawsuit against AstraZeneca on Tuesday that could lead to financial sanctions for the company which the EU alleges has breached a supply contract for COVID-19 vaccines.

The lawsuit is the EU's second against AstraZeneca after the bloc took action at the end of April over delayed vaccine supplies. read more

AstraZeneca has said the EU's first legal action is without merit, saying that it complied with the contract. The company's lawyer said on Tuesday the new lawsuit was not needed given that there was already one underway.

EU lawyer Rafael Jafferali, speaking in a Belgian court at Tuesday's hearing, asked that AstraZeneca delivers a total of 120 million vaccine doses by the end of June in Brussels' first formal request on the exact volume it is seeking to receive by mid-year.

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker had originally committed to deliver 300 million vaccine doses from December to the end of June, but has delayed shipments, having delivered only 50 million, which under the contract were due in January.

As a partial and immediate compensation for the delays, the EU's lawyer told the court that the company should deliver 120 million doses by the end of June - 90 million in the second quarter, in addition to the 30 million shots shipped by the end of March.

AstraZeneca's aim is to ship 100 million shots by mid-year, which the company's lawyer Hakim Boularbah confirmed at the hearing on Tuesday.

Boularbah said AstraZeneca was not obliged to deliver the entire volume of doses set in the contract because it only committed to doing its "best reasonable efforts" to achieve it. ...