Britain's AstraZeneca to make bn Covid-19 vaccine doses if tests succeed

Drugmaker says it had signed the first agreements to supply at least 400 million doses of the vaccine, which it is developing with Oxford University.

AstraZeneca expects to be able to deliver a billion doses of a possible COVID-19 vaccine this year and next if tests are successful, adding on Thursday it should shortly get results of an early stage clinical trail.

The British drugmaker said it had signed the first agreements to supply at least 400 million doses of the vaccine, which it is developing with Oxford University.

It said it recognised the vaccine might not work but if results from the early stage tests were positive, they would lead to late stage trials in several countries.

Only a handful of the vaccines in development have advanced