GlaxoSmithKline, with a research facility in Collegeville, and Sanofi have moved the expected launch of their potential COVID-19 vaccine to late 2021, writes Danica Kirka for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The drug makers have said the delay was necessitated by the need to improve the vaccine’s effectiveness in older people as early trials have shown that it produces an insufficient response in people over 60.

The companies now plan to reformulate the vaccine to increase the production of the disease-fighting antibodies and do some more testing. This will most likely delay approval to the fourth quarter of the next year from the expected middle of the year.

“The results of the study are not as we hoped,” said Roger Connor, president of GSK Vaccines.

The delay is a setback for the plans to vaccinate large numbers of people worldwide amid a pandemic that has already claimed over 1.5 million lives.

GSK and Sanofi have already signed agreements to supply millions of doses of the vaccine to the U.S., European Union, Canada, and developing countries.

However once approved, the two companies plan to produce up to 1 billion doses of the vaccine annually.

Read more about the potential vaccine at The Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.