EU Vaccine Candidate Delayed
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12/14/2020 |
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In a joint statement on December 11th GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur announced that their COVID vaccine candidate demonstrated inadequate immune response especially in the elderly. This finding will require an increase in the level of antigen in each dose of the vaccine with a new trial to demonstrate efficacy. The EU was relying on the GlaxoSmithKline-Sanofi vaccine and had committed to purchase 300 million doses. The combined companies received a commitment to purchase vaccine from the U.S. against payment of $2.1 billion under the Operation Warp Speed initiative. Accordingly the U.S. is negotiating with Pfizer for additional supplies having previously passed on a previous offer by the company. |
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The disappointing results for GlaxoSmithKline and partner Sanofi contrast with the high efficacy of the novel mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna that provided over 90 percent protection in their respective Phase III trials.
A number of other vaccines are in the stages of development and testing including the Novavax and AstraZeneca products.
In a related report a candidate vaccine developed by the University of Queensland in Australia failed Phase I trials. Although stimulating immunity a protein incorporated in the vaccine construct resulted in false-positive HIV results that rendered the product unacceptable.
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