AstraZeneca to Produce 2 Billion Doses of Its Coronavirus Vaccine Candidate

One of the programs championed by the White House's Warp Speed coronavirus vaccine project took another step forward Thursday. AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) signed new agreements on Thursday that will raise the global supply capacity for its experimental SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate to more than 2 billion doses.

Making alliances
The experimental vaccine candidate that AstraZeneca licensed from Oxford University, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, has a new name: AZD1222. It uses a non-replicating virus to carry genetic material for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which should prime the immune system to attack the actual virus if encountered.