AstraZeneca Prevails in EU COVID-19 Vaccine Lawsuit

AstraZeneca scored a major win last week in a lawsuit launched by European Union (EU) officials that accused the drugmaker of failing to deliver on promised supplies of its COVID-19 vaccine.

A Brussels court found that the European Commission has no exclusivity or right of priority over contracting parties, and also dismissed other measures being sought by the Commission. This included 300 million doses that Europe was seeking by the end of September, which the court reduced to 80.2 million doses. AstraZeneca said this is a target it is on track to “substantially exceed,” especially given that the company has already delivered 70 million doses to the EU to date.

AstraZeneca has been the second largest vaccine supplier to the EU, behind Pfizer, which has provided 233 million doses of its vaccine thus far.

AstraZeneca welcomed the court’s ruling, and in a statement, said that the court also acknowledged that, “the difficulties experienced by AstraZeneca in this unprecedented situation had a substantial impact on the delay.”

The company is saying that it looks forward to “renewed collaboration with the European Commission to help combat the pandemic in Europe.” It also says it remains committed to broad and equitable distribution of the vaccine as laid out in the Advanced Purchase Agreement of August 2020.

Related: AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Variant Booster Shot in the Works and More

COVID-19 Vaccine Lawsuit: Delayed Deliveries

The European Commission had filed the initial lawsuit against AstraZeneca in April of this year, with the first court hearings held in April and May.

The bloc’s lawyers were asking for immediate deliveries of doses from all of the company’s factories, including those within the United Kingdom (UK).

In the April hearing, EU lawyer Rafael Jafferali said, “We demand deliveries by the end of June and we also demand with immediate effect the use of all plants listed in the contract.”

Jafferali said the contract listed a series of plants AstraZeneca would use for manufacturing of its vaccine, but the company had failed to utilize them all, breaching the contract. The contract listed a total of four manufacturing sites, two of which were located in the UK.

In response to this, AstraZeneca lawyer Hakim Boularbah told the hearing there was no obligation to deliver vaccines from all production plants.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine delivery delays began in January of this year, when the company admitted that it wouldn’t be able to meet the initial target number of doses. The company had pledged to deliver 100 million doses by the end of the first quarter in its contract with the EU; however, it had only shipped 30 million doses in that time.

The EU felt the shortages significantly hampered vaccination campaigns across countries in the EU.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine troubles have also included the occurrence of rare but serious blood clots following administration of its vaccine. The vaccine was halted in the UK and Canada for several weeks but then lifted as probes continue into finding a potential causal link.