EUROPEAN UNION LAUNCHES SECOND LAWSUIT AGAINST ASTRAZENECA

Tue 11 May 2021:

The European Commission has launched a second lawsuit against UK-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca over the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, Stefan De Keersmaecker, a spokesperson or the EU executive, said on Tuesday.

During a press briefing, De Keersmaecker said that the second case, which follows an initial lawsuit launched in late April, was about assessing the “merits” and “substance” of the ongoing legal action covering AstraZeneca’s alleged violations of its advance purchase agreement with the European Union.

“We want the court to order the company to deliver 90 million additional doses, in addition to the 30 million already delivered in the first quarter,” De Keersmaecker said.

The European Commission spokesperson stated that the bloc’s objective was to ensure the on-time delivery of vaccine doses, adding that the EU was not seeking to impose punitive measures on the pharmaceutical company.

AstraZeneca was expected to deliver 180 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the European Union in the second quarter of 2021, according to the terms of the advance purchase agreement.

The company admitted in March that it would only be able to deliver 70 million of these doses.

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