[ad_1]
A laboratory technician oversees filling and packaging tests for the large-scale production and supply of the University of Oxfords’ COVID-19 candidate vaccine, AZD1222, performed on a high-throughput aseptic vial filling line on September 11. 2020 at Catalent in Anagni, Italy.
Vincenzo Pinto | AFP | fake images
LONDON – British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said on Friday that it would soon begin working with Russia’s Gamaleya Institute to investigate whether its two coronavirus vaccine candidates could be successfully combined.
It comes after the developers of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine reached out to AstraZeneca via Twitter late last month to ask whether they should try to combine the two vaccines based on the common cold virus to increase efficacy.
“Being able to combine different COVID-19 vaccines can be helpful in enhancing protection and / or improving vaccine accessibility. That is why it is important to explore different vaccine combinations to help make immunization schedules more flexible, by allowing doctors have more options when it comes to administering vaccines, “AstraZeneca said in a statement Friday.
“It is also likely that the combination of vaccines can lead to better immunity over a longer period of time,” he added.
AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, produced in collaboration with the University of Oxford, is one of several seeking to gain approval from drug regulators amid growing hopes that a mass vaccination campaign could help end the pandemic.
To date, more than 69 million people have contracted the coronavirus worldwide, with 1.58 million related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Data published in The Lancet medical journal this week showed that AstraZeneca’s vaccine has an average efficacy of 70.4%, based on pooled interim data from late-stage clinical trials. The vaccine was also found to be safe and effective.
Russia has claimed that Sputnik V is more than 90% effective in preventing people from contracting the virus, citing preliminary results from ongoing trials.
‘New stage of cooperation’
The Russian Direct Investment Fund, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which has funded the development of Sputnik V, said clinical trials of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in combination with its own would begin at the end of the month.
“AstraZeneca’s decision to conduct clinical trials using one of the two Sputnik V vectors to increase the efficacy of its own vaccine is an important step in joining forces in the fight against the pandemic,” Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of Russian Direct Investment Fund said in a statement.
“We welcome the beginning of this new stage of cooperation between vaccine producers. We are determined to develop this partnership in the future and begin joint production after the new vaccine proves its effectiveness in the course of clinical trials.” Dmitriev said.
The Lancet editor-in-chief Dr. Richard Horton told CNBC on Wednesday that the AstraZeneca vaccine had a “clear comparative advantage” over other prominent candidates. He also claimed that he was the one who could probably immunize the world “more effectively” and “faster” than his peers.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is an inoculation of a viral vector that is based on a weakened version of a common cold virus that causes infections in chimpanzees. It is designed to prime the immune system to attack the coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, if it then infects the body.
