Sanofi, GSK coronanvirus vaccine to get up to $2.1 billion from U.S. government

U.S. listed shares of Sanofi SNY, -0.90% gained 0.8% in premarket trading on Friday after it said the U.S. government will pay up to $2.1 billion for the COVID-19 vaccine candidate it is developing with GlaxoSmithKline GSK, -0.22%. The GSK stock listed in the U.S. was up 1.2% before the market opened. The funding, part of Operation Warp Speed, will be used to support ongoing clinical development and manufacturing of the experimental candidate, with at least 100 million doses promised to the U.S. The U.S. government has already said it will award billions of dollars to companies developing vaccines that aim to prevent against infections with the coronavirus. The Phase 1/2 study for the Sanofi/GSK vaccine is expected to begin in September. "No single vaccine or company will be able to meet the global demand alone," Thomas Triomphe, global head of Sanofi Pasteur, the drugmaker's vaccines business, said in a news release. Both companies also said they are in talks with the European Union Commission about supplying Europe with their vaccine. Since the start of the year, Sanofi's stock is up 4.7%, shares of GSK are down 14.9%, and the S&P 500 SPX, -0.57% is up 0.5%.