Two of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies are teaming up to find a coronavirus vaccine.

Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is joining French company Sanofi to develop a serum.

It’s hoped the combined efforts will deliver a vaccine by the middle of next year.

Sanofi will contribute its S-protein Covid-19 antigen, which is based on recombinant DNA technology.

This produces an exact genetic match to proteins found on the surface of the virus.

Meanwhile, GSK will contribute its pandemic adjuvant knowledge to the partnership.

Paul Hudson, chief executive of Sanofi, said:

“As the world faces this unprecedented global health crisis, it is clear that no one company can go it alone.

“That is why Sanofi is continuing to complement its expertise and resources with our peers, such as GSK, with the goal to create and supply sufficient quantities of vaccines that will help stop this virus.”

Emma Walmsley, chief executive of GSK, said:

“By combining our science and our technologies, we believe we can help accelerate the global effort to develop a vaccine to protect as many people as possible from Covid-19.”

The companies plan to start phase one clinical trials later this year.

If successful, and subject to regulatory considerations, it aims to produce a vaccine by the second half of 2021.