AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN) (STO:AZN) (NYSE:AZN) has entered into an agreement with Europe's Inclusive Vaccines Alliance (IVA) to supply up to 400 million doses of the University of Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine at no profit, the biopharmaceutical company announced on Saturday.

The IVA is spearheaded by Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands. With this agreement, the IVA aims to accelerate the supply of the vaccine and to make it available to other European countries that wish to participate in the initiative.

AstraZeneca has recently completed similar agreements with the UK, US, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi the Vaccine Alliance for 700 million doses, and it agreed a licence with the Serum Institute of India for the supply of an additional one billion doses, principally for low- and middle-income countries. Its total manufacturing capacity currently stands at two billion doses.

The company is seeking to expand manufacturing capacity further and said it is open to collaborating with other firms in order to meet its commitment to support access to the vaccine at no profit during the pandemic.