THE HAGUE – The EU yesterday backed a Covid-19 booster vaccine by French drugmaker Sanofi and Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline after it gave positive results against the Omicron variant in trials.
The approval of the “next generation” jab by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is a shot in the arm for Sanofi and GSK, which have lagged behind rivals in offering a vaccine.
The VidPrevtyn Beta jab could be used as a booster in adults previously given mRNA jabs like the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, or viral vector vaccines made by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, the EMA said.
“A booster dose of VidPrevtyn Beta is expected to be at least as effective as Comirnaty (Pfizer’s vaccine) at restoring protection against Covid-19,” the Amsterdam-based EMA said in a statement.
A trial of 162 adults given the booster showed that the Sanofi-GSK booster triggers a higher production of antibodies against the Omicron BA.1 subvariant than Pfizer’s jab, the regulator said.
A second study restored immunity in 627 adults who had received other vaccines for their first course of jabs.
Sanofi said it was ready to start its first shipments of the booster.
“Today’s approval validates our research in developing a novel solution for the Covid-19 pandemic,” Thomas Triomphe, executive vice-president for vaccines at Sanofi, said in a statement.
Sanofi and GSK developed the next-generation jab at the same time that they are waiting for regulatory approval for their first-generation vaccine.
It combines a Sanofi-developed antigen, which stimulates the production of germ-killing antibodies, with GSK’s adjuvant technology, a substance that bolsters the immune response triggered by a vaccine. – AFP, November 11, 2022
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