US pharmaceutical company Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc said on Monday it may ship to Singapore the first batch of a Covid-19 vaccine it has been developing with local scientists early next year.
The statement comes as the company announced positive preliminary results from ongoing early stage clinical trials in the city-state, according a Straits Times report.
Arcturus announced a manufacturing and vaccine supply agreement with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) for up to $220 million in additional financial commitment, the company’s chief financial officer Andrew Sassine said, according to an earnings transcript.
The EDB will provide a limited recourse loan of $45 million within 60 days contingent on the delivery of certain documentation. The loan will be repaid through royalties on future vaccine commercial sale, and the loan will be forgiven if the vaccine development doesn’t succeed or obtain regulatory approval.
Arcturus and EDB have entered into a supply agreement for the right to buy up to $175 million of ARCT-021 vaccine at pre-negotiated prices, with shipment expected in the first quarter of 2021.
“Along with our global manufacturing partners, we have laid the foundation to produce hundreds of millions of doses of ARCT-021 over the next 18 months,” Sassine said.
Results so far show that the vaccine could be effective as a single dose, the Straits Times reported, citing Duke-NUS Medical School’s Professor Ooi Eng Eong, who had co-developed the vaccine with Arcturus.
