Future Covid-19 vaccine will be below 10 euros: Sanofi France chief

Sanofi's chief in France, Olivier Bogillot, said on Saturday that its future Covid-19 vaccine was likely to be priced below 10 euros per shot.

"The price is not totally set ... We are assessing production costs for the coming months ... We will be below 10 euros," Bogillot told France Inter radio.

Drugmakers and government agencies worldwide are racing to combat the pandemic and develop vaccines and treatments for Covid-19.

Asked about rival AstraZeneca, which is expected to price its shot at about 2.50 euros in Europe, Bogillot said:

"The price gap for us can be that we use all our internal resources, our own researchers, our own research centres. AstraZeneca outsources part of its production,"

Earlier this week Sanofi and Britain's GlaxoSmithKline said they had started a clinical trial of their protein-based Covid-19 vaccine candidate, and aimed to reach the final testing stage by December.

If the results are conclusive, Sanofi and GSK hope to get the vaccine approved in the first half of next year.